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TOJTED STATES OF AMERICA. 



ATHEISM 



AND 



THEISM. 



BY 



john g. Wilson, 



MINISTER OF THE WORD OF GOD, AND AUTHOR OF "REDEMPTION IN 

PROPHECY," "THE SABBATH AND ITS LORD," "DOCTRINE 

OF BAPTISMS, ' ETC. 



Admit a God — all other wonders cease ; 
Deny him — all is mystery besides,— Young. 




PHILADELPHIA! 

J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO. 

1883. 



5I W 



Copyright, 1883, by John G. Wilson. 



Thr Library 
of Congress 

WASHlS&tOtf 



PREFACE. 



A conviction of the Divine existence is 
wrought in the mind by an observation of 
nature, and is a necessary conclusion from a 
consideration of our own being. " I am, and 
therefore thou must be," is a just inference 
from a settled fact, and one which commends 
itself to the judgment of every reflecting mind. 
I have not, therefore, entered into any elaborate 
argument to disprove the atheistic assump- 
tion, " There is no God," nor yet to prove the 
converse, that " There is a God." My design 
in this treatise has been simply, and in a con- 
cise manner, to show the folly of the atheist's 
denial of God, and its evil tendency in pro- 
ducing moral corruption, and to exhibit the 
reasonableness of a belief in the Being and 
attributes of God, and his government over 
the world as taught in the Bible : and to 

treat the subject in a manner adapted to the 

3 



PREFACE. 



edification of all persons who may give it their 
attention. And yet the treatise is argument- 
ative as well as didactic, and furnishes a brief 
and compendious Christian Theodicy, — a vin- 
dication of the rectitude and benevolence of 
the Supreme Being in regard to the natural 
and moral evil existing in the world, and 
which, I humbly hope, may, under the Di- 
vine blessing, tend to remove the difficulties 
which so frequently perplex inquiring minds, 
and to lead all to a confiding trust in the 
Author of our being and the God of our sal- 
vation. 

John G. Wilson. 
Philadelphia, 1883. 



CONTENTS. 



PART PAGE 

I.— Atheism 7 

II. — The Divine Existence and Personality . 25 
III. — The Attributes of God .... 43 
IV. — The Government of God . . . .61 

V. — The Origin of Evil 79 

VL— The Scheme of Redemption ... 97 

VII. — The Final Result . . . . .116 

VIII. — Objections Anticipated . . . .155 

IX. — Explanations 197 



ATHEISM AND THEISM. 



PART I. 



ATHEISM. 



It is maintained by some, who wish to be 
regarded as benefactors of the human family, 
that the idea of a Supreme Being had its origin 
in the ignorance of mankind in a rude and bar- 
barous age ; and they think that to eradicate 
this idea, and liberate the mind from all sense 
of responsibility to a Higher Power, is to be 
the work of intellectual development, and will 
confer a great favor on the race. Upon this 
assumption it would be fair to infer that the 
belief in a God would be confined to the more 
ignorant nations, and that as they advanced in 
knowledge and intelligence they would become 
atheists. On this theory those who most pro- 
foundly feel their responsibility to God, and 
most devoutly worship and serve him, should 
be the most miserable of mankind, and that 
true happiness would be enjoyed only by those 
who live without hope and without God in the 

7 



8 ATHEISM AND THEISM. 

world. But the facts in the case establish the 
reverse of this. Those nations, if nations they 
maybe called, consisting of a few clannish herds 
of men and women, who have been discovered 
to have no conception of a Supreme Being, are 
described as most ignorant and degraded, but 
little elevated above the brute beasts around 
them. But as they ascend in the scale of im- 
provement and intelligence mankind possess this 
knowledge and have clearer conceptions of the 
nature and character of God, and more fully 
believe in him. And the happiness of man has 
ever been found to consist in his subjection to 
the will and obedience to the commands of God. 
The apostle Paul shows that a godless life is 
the result of ignorance, when he exhorts the 
believing Gentiles, " that they walk not as other 
Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their minds; 
having the understanding darkened, being 
alienated from the life of God, through the 
ignorance that is in them because of the blind- 
ness of their heart." Eph. iv. 17, 18. But our 
sceptical philosophers would have us to believe 
that they are the wisest of mankind, and that, 
with a few exceptions, themselves included, the 
most enlightened nations have not yet arrived 
to a sufficient degree of intellectual cultivation 
to enable them to cast off the fetters which 
ignorance had forged and fastened upon their 



ATHEISM. 9 



minds. In other words, they think, and would 
like others to think so too, that all mankind 
are yet in leading-strings of ignorance and 
superstition, except the precious few who have 
reached that consummation of presumptuous 
folly and self-deception which asserts that 
"There is no God." What a marvellous con- 
clusion to proceed from the heart, and be 
uttered by the lips of such an ephemeral and 
ignorant creature as man ! A creature whose 
existence began, as it were, but yesterday, and, 
as far as this life is concerned, will end to- 
morrow; a creature whose observation is lim- 
ited to a small portion of the earth on which 
we live ; who, with the most profound research, 
is scarcely able, in a lifetime, to penetrate the 
surface of things ; who is unable to solve the 
mystery of his own existence, and finds in 
those objects of nature with which he is most 
familiar a thousand inexplicable wonders. Oh, 
is it not a marvellous thing that such a one 
should so far forget himself, and be so exces- 
sively puffed up, as to deny the Divine exist- 
ence, and thus, virtually, arrogate to himself 
Divine attributes ? For how could any one be 
qualified to decide the question in the negative 
whether there is a God unless he himself were 
an omnipresent and omniscient being; one that 
is everywhere, and acquainted with all things? for 



10 ATHEISM AND THEISM. 

if there was any subsistence in all the universe or 
beyond the universe which had escaped his no- 
tice, that subsistence might be God. I shall not 
now enlarge upon this thought. It must, I think, 
be apparent to any one of the most ordinary ca- 
pacity that a more immodest, presumptuous, and 
arrogant declaration never fell from mortal lips 
than this atheistic dogma, " There is no God." 
It is such a monstrous folly and conceit in an 
intelligent being, with the evidence of the eter- 
nal power and Godhead of Jehovah, above, be- 
neath, and all around him, to deny the existence 
of God, that many wise and good men have 
questioned whether there ever was or ever can 
be a conscientious atheist. It seems, indeed, 
almost impossible, in the face of such accumu- 
lated evidence as nature yields to the contrary, to 
settle down into such an absurd conclusion. And 
yet, if we may credit their testimony, there have 
been some who, by something like deliberate 
and thoughtful investigation, have set aside the 
evidence, and have adopted this vacant creed, 
and rested in this dark dogma, which excludes 
God from the universe, and consigns the world 
and all its inhabitants to the uncertainties of 
chance and the necessities of fate. And foras- 
much as they do not like to retain God in their 
knowledge, God gives them over to strong de- 
lusion, that they should believe a lie, that they 



ATHEISM. ii 



all might be condemned who obey not the 
truth, but have pleasure in unrighteousness. 
Sadly true it is that though light has emanated 
from the Divine One through his works of 
creation and wonders of providence and testi- 
monies of revelation, teaching knowledge of 
God, yet men love darkness rather than light, 
because their deeds are evil : and perversely 
cling to error that they may justify themselves 
in wrong. Oh, sad defection of the human 
understanding ! 

The atheistic philosophers profess to be 
guided by reason, and boast of their ability to 
solve all mysteries by the touch of her magic 
wand. They talk learnedly and fluently of 
nature and of nature's laws, as if they perfectly 
understood the origin, progress, and destiny of 
all things, and thus impose upon the credulity 
of the simple, and beguile the unwary from the 
path of truth and virtue. And yet when asked 
to explain the origin of man and solve the phe- 
nomena of nature around them, these 

" Sages, diving into science, have but a profundity of words; 

They track, for some few links, the circling chain of conse- 
quence, 

And, after doubts and disputations, are left where they began, 

At the bald conclusion of a clown, things are because they 
are." — Tupper. 

Or, on the other extreme, " ever the most cred- 



12 ATHEISM AND THEISM. 

ulous, catching at any foolish cause that may- 
dispel their doubts," they suppose that man's 
origin is attributable to some strange freak of 
nature, by which, in an instant, man, both male 
and female, sprang from the earth, as the fabled 
Minerva is said to have sprung from the head 
of Jupiter ; or, that he is the production of a 
labored effort of nature to bring forth some- 
thing, not knowing what, which through thou- 
sands or millions of transmigrations, for a long 
series of ages, beginning in some microscopic 
monad or animalcule, was enlarged and devel- 
oped by successive degrees, until by chance it 
resulted in the first human pair, with whom 
nature has been so completely satisfied that she 
has since ceased from her labor to produce any- 
thing greater or higher in the scale of intelli- 
gences. In short, there is no conjecture too 
absurd for them to propound and believe if it 
but exclude the existence and agency of a God, 
verifying the sayings of Tupper, — 

" The captious and cautious unbeliever is of all men weakest 

to believe; 
Cut from the anchorage of God, his bark is a plaything of 

the billows ; 
The compass of his principle is broken, the rudder of his 

faith is unshipped ; 
Chance and fate in a stultified antagonism, govern all for him; 
Truth sprang from the conflict of falsities, and the multitude 

of accidents hath bred design." 



ATHEISM. 13 



The denial of God indicates some mental 
obliquity, some perversion of the understanding ; 
and at first leads us rather to pity than to blame 
the victim of this delusion, which seems to be 
the result of a peculiar conjunction of disas- 
trous influences upon the mind, obscuring the 
perceptions and rendering him incapable of 
reasoning from the acknowledged laws of evi- 
dence. It is almost universally admitted that 
there is a certain connection between cause and 
effect, and we know of no effect without an 
adequate cause. If, therefore, we see an inge- 
nious piece of mechanism, a watch for instance, 
or a rare work of art, — a splendid painting, — we 
invariably infer the existence of intelligent 
agents by whom they were made. And if we 
see any change occur in the objects we are 
contemplating, we are led to infer a cause for 
the phenomenon. And on this acknowledged 
principle, lying at the foundation of all right 
reasoning concerning the existence of beings 
and events, we arrive indubitably to the con- 
clusion that the universe must have had a cre- 
ator; that there must be a Supreme Being 
whose infinite wisdom and power alone were 
adequate to the production of such a wonderful 
organism, and whose works in turn display his 
eternal power and Godhead. Whoever, there- 
fore, begins by denying what is self-evident, 



14 ATHEISM AND THEISM. 

discovers a hallucination of mind which inca- 
pacitates him for right reasoning, and makes 
him at best a proper object of your pity and 
your prayers. 

" * There is no God,' the fool in secret said; 

i There is no God that rules o'er earth or sky.' 
Tear off the bands that bind the wretch's head, 

That God may burst upon his faithless eye ! 
Is there no God ? The stars in myriads spread, 

If he look up, the blasphemy deny; 
While his own features, in the mirror read, 

Reflect the image of Divinity. 
Is there no God ? The stream that silver flows, 

The air he breathes, the ground he treads, the trees, 
The flowers, the grass, the sands, each wind that blows, 

All speak of God; throughout, one voice agrees, 
And, eloquent, his dread existence shows : 

Blind to thyself, ah ! see him, fool, in these.'' 

Giovanni Cotta. 

But it is not so much the weakness of the 
head as the wickedness of the heart that is the 
source of atheism. " The fool hath said in his 
heart, There is no God." Ps. xiv. I. And the 
heart of man is deceitful above all things and 
desperately wicked. The constitutional inclina- 
tions of man's nature are to rectitude and hap- 
piness, but a false estimate of the capability of 
earthly and sensual things to give him pleasure, 
and which he is liable to form under the present 
circumstances of his being, may influence him 



ATHEISM. 15 



to seek happiness in sinful indulgences at the 
expense of his sense of right, and so stifle the 
voice of conscience in seeking relief from a 
sense of responsibility by excluding God from 
all his thoughts. And the next step is to ex- 
clude God from the universe by adopting the 
atheistic theory, " There is no God/'— just as 
the silly ostrich thinks to annihilate its pursuers 
by burying its head in the sand and shutting 
out all sight and sound. The idea of God is 
painful to the wicked, because it is associated 
with a feeling of responsibility. It is this that 
troubles them. If they could have such a God 
as the fable says Jupiter gave the frogs, — a log 
of wood, — a god that could neither see nor hear 
nor feel, incapable of either rewarding or pun- 
ishing them for their conduct, they would have 
no objection to such a God. For in the days 
w r hen atheism possessed the French mind and 
heart, during the reign of Robespierre, the 
convention in one of its most popular and 
authentic papers made the following announce- 
ment : " Provided the idea of a Supreme Being 
be nothing more than a philosophical abstrac- 
tion, a guide to the imagination in the pursuit 
of causes and effects, a resting-place for the 
curiosity of inquiring minds, a notion merely 
speculative, and from which no practical conse- 
quences are to be applied to human life, there 



1 6 ATHEISM AND THEISM. 

can be no great danger in such an idea; but if 
it is to be made the foundation of morality ; if 
it is to be accompanied by the supposition that 
there exists a God who presides over the affairs 
of the world and rewards and punishes men for 
their actions on earth according to some principle 
of speculative justice, there can be no opinion 
more prejudicial to society." If they entertained 
the idea of a God at all, they wished it to be such 
a one as would be no object of reverence or 
regard,— the belief of whose existence would 
impose no restraint upon their passions or pur- 
suits; whom they need not fear to offend, nor 
desire to please ; and who was alike incapable 
of rewarding virtue or punishing vice. And if 
he would not consent to be this senseless ab- 
straction, then, in order to get rid of all sense 
of responsibility and be allowed to live as they 
pleased, they must get rid of him by simply 
denying his existence. 

The effect of atheism is to confirm that men- 
tal obliquity and strengthen that moral corrup- 
tion which gave it birth. The mind having once 
consented to an imposing sophistry is led cap- 
tive by it, and soon becomes entangled in the 
web of its own delusions, and lost in the mazes 
of its own folly. In the labyrinth of doubt it 
finds only amusing speculations and delusive 
hopes, until at last it is lost in the windings of 



ATHEISM. i J 



despair. Its eternal series — its spontaneous uni- 
verse of worlds and beings — its laws of motion 
and matter — confusion giving birth to order, and 
order tending to confusion — its fortuitous con- 
currence of atoms, and physical necessity, are 
among the dogmas which bewilder and ensnare 
the mind, until it becomes wrecked in unbelief; 
a melancholy exhibition of weakness and folly, 
— a vessel stranded upon the shoals of a spuri- 
ous philosophy. 

Its moral influence is to be inferred from its 
nature and design ; and gathered from its his- 
tory in times past, and its present aspect. It 
fosters the worst passions of the human heart 
by removing all the restraints which religion 
imposes upon mankind, relieving the conscience 
of any sense of responsibility to God ; taking 
away the landmarks of virtue and vice, and 
making present gratification the chief object 
of pursuit. In denying God, atheism likewise 
denies a future state of existence to man, and 
all rewards and punishments beyond this life. 
It limits his existence to this life (in some in- 
stances it has even proceeded so far as to deny 
his existence altogether), and makes his happi- 
ness here the only proper motive to action. It 
teaches him that having no bond to society but 
that of convenience, he is justified in using it 
to secure for himself the means of enjoyment, 



ATHEISM AND THEISM. 



irrespective of the well-being of his fellow-crea- 
tures. And should he find himself after all 
unhappy and miserable, or should his laudable 
efforts to secure the means and objects of his 
own gratification in the indulgence of his appe- 
tites and passions unfortunately subject him to 
the penalties which society imposes, he may 
seek the relief of oppressed virtue by volun- 
tarily retiring from existence, which fate im- 
posed upon him and chance enables him to dis- 
pense with. Its design evidently is to relieve 
man from a sense of responsibility to God, and 
allow him to indulge his passions without re- 
straint, provided he can manage to escape detec- 
tion and punishment from his fellow-man. Or, 
judging from the announcement of the French 
Assembly, to give up society itself to unre- 
strained licentiousness and beastly gratification. 
Such being its nature and design, what must be 
its effects but disorder, crime, and misery? 
With such a creed, what may not a man dp if 
his passions and appetites demand it? With 
such a creed, the libertine may gloat upon un- 
protected and confiding innocence and beauty, 
and, without a blush, consign to infamy and ruin 
the victim of his lust. With such a creed, the 
robber and assassin may say, " Come, let us lay 
wait for blood ; let us lurk privily for the inno- 
cent without cause; let us swallow them up 



ATHEISM. ig 



alive as the grave; and whole, as those that go 
down to the pit : we shall find all precious sub- 
stance ; we shall fill our houses with spoil." 
Prov. i. n-13. With such a creed, what bonds 
could be regarded as sacred ? what conditions 
inviolable? What confidence could be placed 
in the friendship, the honor, the justice, the in- 
tegrity of him whose creed is a denial of all the 
obligations of virtue and goodness? What is 
there to make seduction, or robbery, or murder, 
or fraud criminal in his eyes ? No matter what 
he does, he offends not against God, for he says, 
There is no God. And he recognizes no obli- 
gations to society. He knows no law but those 
of his passions and propensities, and no God 
but himself. 

The history of atheism, in the lives and con^ 
duct of its votaries, confirms the inferences 
drawn from its nature and design. Although 
it may be admitted that there have been and 
still are some professed atheists of virtuous life 
and character, yet it may be safely asserted that 
this has been owing to an early religious train- 
ing, or to the restraints of society, or the cir- 
cumstances of their condition, and in despite of 
the pernicious tendency of their principles. - But, 
in general, atheists are blasphemers, lewd, dis- 
sipated, and immoral. And if it be asked, who 
are they that outrage all the decencies of life, 



20 ATHEISM AND THEISM. 

that make a mock of sin, that riot in debauchery 
and crime? it will be found that they are not 
the religious portion of the community, who 
believe in God and worship him according to 
his ordinances ; but that they are either avowed 
unbelievers or practical atheists who live without 
hope and without God in the world. 

Attempts have been made over and over to 
prove that atheism could insure human happi- 
ness upon a system of socialism, but in every 
instance they have failed. All such organiza- 
tions, destitute of the foundations of virtue 
and religion upon which alone communities 
can stand, have speedily come to naught. 
There is nothing in atheism to bind society 
together. Its elements are all repulsive. " In 
the midst of millions the atheist would find 
himself in a desert. His situation would be 
that of a hermit; his character that of a fiend." 
All societies formed on atheistic principles 
would have speedily to disband, change, or 
perish. The members of such societies have 
been saved only by mingling again with their 
fellow-men under governments wherein God 
was recognized and our responsibility to him 
was felt. 

We have one great practical illustration of 
these things on a national scale. Some years 
ago atheism prevailed in France. Its philoso- 



ATHEISM. 21 



phers, descanting on the perfectibility of human 
nature, and attributing all the evils of society 
to the imperfection and abuses of the existing 
government, promised the people a perfect par- 
adise of joy if they were only freed from the 
tyranny of priests and kings and governed by 
the simple and benevolent laws of nature alone. 
The seed was sown broadcast and the minds of 
the people were perverted. The way was paved 
for the goddess of reason to drive her car in 
triumph over France and begin her benignant 
reign. The powers of legislation and govern- 
ment fell into the hands of the philosophers 
themselves. The golden age dawned in which 
it was to be shown that man needed neither 
God, nor Bible, nor Sabbath, nor Priesthood, 
nor Church, nor Religion. It was "a grand 
experiment on human nature." The revolu- 
tionary leaders, in the height of their impiety, 
not only sought to destroy every vestige of 
Christianity by abolishing the Sabbath, altering 
the calendar, plundering and shutting up or con- 
verting into warehouses the various churches ; 
but in the climax of their guilt they brought 
the convention to yield to the cry that the 
era had come when man should cease to fear 
the Eternal, and, in the person of a strumpet, 
enthroned, with heathen orgies, the goddess 
of reason as the object of national worship. 



22 ATHEISM AND THEISM. 

Surely this was sufficient. The system shall 
have a fair trial. The triumph of atheism 
was complete ; and the result is before us. 
The reign of atheism was the reign of 
terror. The God they denied withdrew his 
Spirit from them, and left them to themselves. 
France was converted into a great prison, and 
its inhabitants into criminals. The sword, the 
bayonet, the sucking boat, and the guillotine 
were the ordinary instruments of execution. 
Day by day new victims were demanded to 
satisfy the popular frenzy, and the execu- 
tioners of one period were the victims in the 
next, until, in the short period of ten years, it 
is estimated that not less than three millions 
of human beings perished in this way. The 
atrocities committed in this waste of human 
life were unparalleled in the history of nations. 
France was baptized with the blood of her 
inhabitants, and the people at .last recoiled in 
horror from the infamous and destructive 
system. 

The trial was complete. It was proved that 
society could not exist under such a system ; 
that where the Great Ruler of the universe is 
disowned, the foundations of the earth are out 
of course, the bulwarks of virtue are destroyed, 
the checks of vice are removed, and the most hor- 
rid crimes are perpetrated in the name of liberty. 



ATHEISM. 23 



The trial was sufficient. The convention which 
had disowned the Most High and proclaimed 
death to be an eternal sleep was constrained to 
recognize again, by public enactment, the ex- 
istence of God and a future state. Thus pub- 
licly recanting their former folly, and admitting 
that even a perverted religion is better than 
none at all. 

The trial vindicated the truth of God's word, 
which thus graphically describes the effects of 
the atheistic theory: "The fool hath said in his 
heart, There is no God. Corrupt are they, and 
have done abominable iniquity ; there is none 
that doeth good. God looked down from 
heaven upon the children of men, to see if 
there were any that did understand, that did 
seek God. Every one of them is gone back ; 
they are altogether become filthy; there is none 
that doeth good; no, not one." Ps. xiv. 1-3. 
Such is atheism, a system of mere negation 
without any evidence ; a presumptuous folly 
without any reason ; the religion of fools, if 
religion it may be called, which denies all re- 
ligion, discards all moral obligation, and adopts 
for its motto, " Let us eat and drink, for to- 
morrow we die." 

The effects of atheism are as I have de- 
scribed. The tree is known by its fruits. Men 
do not gather grapes of thorns nor figs of 



24 ATHEISM AND THEISM. 

thistles. The fruits of atheism are according 
to its nature; just such as we might expect. 
This poisoned fountain sends forth bitter waters 
which blight all that is fair and lovely in the 
world, and spread devastation and death all 
around. Of all the phases of infidelity this 
is the worst and perhaps the most rare. It 
certainly is difficult for the human mind to 
maintain belief in a godless creed. Man's con- 
dition and necessities often force him to ac- 
knowledge the existence and seek the help of 
God. Voltaire could find a God in a storm, 
and many who, while in health, never speak 
his name but to blaspheme, pour out a prayer 
when trouble comes, and entreat his mercy in 
the day of their calamity. 

" < There is no God,' the foolish saith, — 
But none, * There is no sorrow ;' 
And Nature oft the cry of Faith 

In bitter need will borrow. 
Eyes, which the preacher could not school, 

By wayside graves are raised ; 
And lips say, * God be merciful,* 
That ne'er said, ' God be praised.' " 

Miss Barrett. 



DIVINE EXISTENCE AND PERSONALITY. 2$ 

PART II. 

THE DIVINE EXISTENCE AND PERSONALITY. 

No formal proof of the existence of God is to 
be reasonably expected in a revelation from God. 
A ruler in making a proclamation to his subjects 
does not deem it necessary to prove that he ex- 
ists. The knowledge of his existence and con- 
sent to his authority are presupposed. And so 
with the omnipresent and demonstrative evidence 
of the eternal power and Godhead of the Creator 
before him, it is presumed that man must believe 
in his existence and acknowledge his sover- 
eignty. To have offered proof of his existence 
would seem like an admission of the insuffi- 
ciency of the evidence afforded by his works and 
the excusableness of those who do not adore and 
serve him. The opposite of which is asserted 
by Paul in Rom. i. 19, 20 : " Because that which 
may be known of God is manifest in them ; 
for God hath showed it unto them. For the 
invisible things of him from the creation of the 
world are clearly seen, being understood by the 
things that are made, even his eternal power 
and Godhead, so that they are without excuse. ,, 

The denial of the Divine Existence, or athe- 
b 3 



26 ATHEISM AND THEISM. 

ism, has been considered, and its nature, char- 
acter, and effects exhibited. It was shown to 
be the offspring of folly and wickedness, and its 
fruits disorder, misery, and death; yet I merely 
glanced at the difficulties which throng this the- 
ory of negation, and noticed one or two of the 
absurd and ridiculous speculations respecting 
the origin of things which have been broached 
by its advocates in the imbecility of their unbelief. 
Suppose now we were to admit the possibility 
of one of these conjectures respecting the origin 
of man, his development from a simple monad 
or animalcule, by some process which nature 
has since ceased to employ, through thousands 
of transmigrations and an indefinite number of 
years ; still, atheism would be at as great a loss 
to account for the origin of the monad as to 
account for that of man. And if, to evade this 
difficulty, it should be said that the monad was 
the production of nature, this must be under- 
stood of a spontaneous production of some- 
thing out of nothing, or of giving new form 
and vitality to what was in existence in some 
inanimate state before ; and nothing is thereby 
gained; for nature is not an intelligent agent on 
even the atheistic theory, but simply matter 
operated on by certain physical laws, and is, 
therefore, incapable of creating anything. Na- 
ture originates nothing, and the inquiry arises, 



DIVINE EXISTENCE AND PERSONALITY. 2J 

Whence came matter? and how came these laws 
to exist? It is evident that matter could not 
originate itself, nor establish the laws by which 
it is governed. Pushed at last to the extremity 
of his theory, the atheist says, " Matter is eter- 
nal ; matter is unoriginate ; matter is self-exist- 
ent; matter originated itself; matter sprung into 
existence spontaneously and organized itself into 
suns and worlds, and these assumed for them- 
selves given distances, and centripetal and cen- 
trifugal forces and distinctive gravitation, and 
gave birth to all the wonderful varieties of vege- 
table and animal organisms." Now, there is no 
greater difficulty in believing in an eternal, self- 
existent, and intelligent being than there is in 
believing in the eternity of matter or in its 
spontaneous production. Atheism has in its 
theory a material universe uncaused, while the 
Bible or Christianity has in its theory an intel- 
ligent Being, the Creator of all things, uncaused. 
Which is the most rational idea, that of a material 
universe uncaused, or springing into existence 
spontaneously, or that of a material universe, 
the production of an all-wise and all-powerful 
Being, who is self-existent and eternal ? Surely 
the latter. But, says the atheist, we have evi- 
dence of the existence of matter, while we have 
none of the existence of such a being as God. 
Herein the great mistake of atheism lies. It 



28 ATHEISM AND THEISM. 

supposes that there is no evidence of the exist- 
ence of anything but what is cognizable by our 
senses, — that is, of what we can see and hear 
and taste and smell and feel. But suppose I 
go into a gallery of paintings and gaze upon the 
production of the pencil and the brush, have I no 
evidence of the existence of the artist, although 
I see him not with my eyes ? Are not the pic- 
tures which hang upon the walls so many dem- 
onstrations of the existence of the artist? Do 
I not rationally infer from the exhibition of 
design, taste, and skill that they are the pro- 
duction of a master of no ordinary talent? Sir 
Isaac Newton, the great Christian philosopher, 
had a nephew who professed to be an atheist. 
The young man, on entering Sir Isaac's study 
one day, saw a new and beautiful pair of globes 
of elegant workmanship which his uncle had 
just purchased, and admiring them much, he 
inquired of his uncle, Who made them ? " No- 
body," said his uncle, gravely ; " they came by 
chance." " Impossible !" said the young man. 
Being challenged by his uncle to show why it 
was impossible that they should come by chance, 
he argued very conclusively from the nature of 
the globes, the design manifest, the skill dis- 
played, and other things, that they must have 
had a maker. " And now," said Sir Isaac, "you 
cannot believe that these two little globes came 



DIVINE EXISTENCE AND PERSONALITY. 29 

by chance; you can argue very logically that 
they must have had a maker, and so they had ; 
but you profess to believe that the earth and 
the heavens, of which they are only the faintest 
representatives or pictures, came by chance ; 
that this glorious frame of things had no maker. 
Apply your arguments to the universe, and no 
longer deny the existence of the Maker and 
Ruler of all things." The young man was so- 
bered into belief. Truly " the heavens declare 
the glory of God ; and the firmament showeth 
his handy-work. Day unto day uttereth speech, 
and night unto night teacheth knowledge. ,, Or, 
as Addison beautifully expresses it, — 

" The glorious firmament on high, 
With all the blue ethereal sky 
And spangled heavens, a shining frame, 
Their Great Original proclaim. 

" The unwearied sun from day to day 
Doth his Creator's power display, 
And publishes to every land 
The work of an Almighty hand. 

" Soon as the evening shades prevail 
The moon takes up the wondrous tale, 
And nightly, to the listening earth, 
Repeats the story of her birth ; 

" While all the stars which round her burn, 
And all the planets in their turn 
Confirm the tidings as they roll, 
And spread the truth from pole to pole. 

3* 



30 ATHEISM AND THEISM. 

" What though in solemn silence all 
Move round this dark terrestrial ball? 
What though no real voice nor sound 
Amid the radiant orbs be found ? 

" In reason's ear they all rejoice, 
And utter forth a glorious voice, 
Forever singing as they shine, 
The hand that made us is Divine." 

Besides, the Bible theory gives us but one 
simple, uncompounded Being as self-existent 
and eternal, an intelligent agent possessed of 
wisdom and power sufficient to contrive and 
create all other beings and things. But the 
atheistic theory has necessarily millions of be- 
ings and things which are all alike self-existent, 
independent, and eternal. The earth is eternal ; 
the sun, moon, and stars are eternal. Or if he 
reduces organized matter to its simplest elements, 
he still has many eternals, and which is the most 
rational theory ? If the Bible or Christian the- 
ory is to be questioned because attended with 
difficulty in the incomprehensibleness of the 
Divine existence and eternity, the atheistic the- 
ory is to be rejected wholly as being over- 
whelmed with difficulties. There is no rest to 
the human mind on this question but in the 
conviction, on the testimony of revelation, that 
there is One self-existent and eternal Being, the 
intelligent and almighty Maker of all things. 



DIVINE EXISTENCE AND PERSONALITY. 31 

Here we rest. Something must have been 
self-existent, underived, necessary, and eternal. 
Atheism admits this. And in the universe there 
are such evidences of contrivance, such manifes- 
tations of wisdom, goodness, and power, that we 
are shut up to the conclusion that the self-exist- 
ent, underived, necessary, and eternal must be 
an intelligent and almighty being, and therefore 
God. This conviction is irresistible, and the 
Bible proceeds on the presumption that the dem- 
onstration is sufficient and the conviction gen- 
eral. The assertion that in the beginning God 
created the heavens and the earth, contains in 
it the proposition that the works of creation 
demonstrate the existence and personality of 
the Supreme Being. " If then," says Mr. Stock- 
ton, " the day dawn, the sun rise, the world 
wake, and earth and seas and skies all glitter on 
the vision of stirring and rejoicing nations, the 
wise man merely witnesses an expansion of 
evidence. If then the day decline, the sun set, 
the shadows spread, the nations rest, and soon 
after the moon smile, and all the stars outsparkle 
from pole to pole, the wise man witnesses only 
another expansion of evidence. If then the 
roof be rolled back, and the telescope pointed, 
the space penetrated and the belts and rings 
and moons of the old planets be reviewed and 
new planets be discovered, and the first gleam 



32 ATHEISM AND THEISM. 

of returning comets be caught, and the dim 
nebula be resolved into splendid systems of far 
apart suns with their wide-sweeping circles of 
flaming spheres, still the wise man witnesses 
only another expansion of evidence. And so 
he is sure that if, dropping his body by the side 
of his polished instrument, it were made his 
privilege to pass away in spirit, with the tireless 
and fearless speed of an angel, as far beyond the 
most distant telescopic nebula as that is from 
the earth, and still on, and on, and on, across 
and around the utmost scope of creation, he 
would only witness at last the whole expansion 
of evidence, the substance of which, even from 
the adaptations of a hand, a tongue, an eye, a 
hair, he understood at first, the absolute demon- 
stration of the existence of God." 

Indeed, the evidences of the Divine Existence 
lie all around us open to our view. It is seen 
in every little flower and plant and tree ; in the 
pastures green and waving corn ; in stones and 
rocks and fossils ; in brooks and fountains, seas 
and oceans. They all bear the impress of his 
hand, they all display the perfection of his wis- 
dom. So, too, the animate creation, insects and 
creeping things, and birds and beasts and fishes, 
all proclaim the wisdom, power, and goodness 
of God. And man himself embodies all. Fear- 
fully and wonderfully made, with an organism 



DIVINE EXISTENCE AND PERSONALITY. 33 

most perfect, and a mind capable of indefinite 
expansion and improvement in knowledge, he 
stands at the head of all, the perfection of 
Jehovah's works, made in the image of God, 
and therefore to himself the clearest demonstra- 
tion of the existence of God : and may, with 
strict propriety and adoring awe, express the 
conviction gained by a contemplation of him- 
self in the language of the Russian poet, — ■ 

" I am, O God ! and surely thou must be." 

And then turning from himself to a contempla- 
tion of the works of God, join with Milton in 
Adam's morning hymn of praise, — 

" These are thy glorious works, Parent of good, 
Almighty, thine this universal frame, 
Thus wondrous fair; THYSELF how wondrous then ! 
Unspeakable, who sit'st above these heavens, 
To us invisible, or dimly seen 
In these thy lowest works ; yet these declare 
Thy goodness beyond thought, and power divine.' ' 

With truth it may be said, " The undevout 
astronomer is mad;" for 

" Nature, with open volume, stands 

To spread her Maker's praise abroad; 
And every labor of his hands 

Shows something worthy of a God." 

The personality of God is also demonstrated 



34 ATHEISM AND THEISM. 

by his works. There are some who, confessing 
God, yet make him nothing more than a univer- 
sal substance, of which whatever is, is but a 
part. The varied and multitudinous forms of 
matter to the pantheist are only so many phe- 
nomena of the one universal substance. With 
him the universe itself is God, and there is no 
God besides. He confounds the Creator with the 
creature. Seeing the Godhead reflected by his 
works, he mistakes the works for the Deity, and 
adores God in earth and sky, in stones and trees 
and flowers and everything. While the atheist 
says, " There is no God," the pantheist says, 
44 There is nothing but God. Nature is God. 
Sun, moon, and stars ; air, earth, and water, and 
all animal and vegetable substances, are only so 
many modes and forms of the Divine existence." 
He never conceives of God as distinct from 
nature. And his theory is but little if any better 
than the atheist's. Indeed, it amounts to the 
same thing. To deny the personality of God is 
to deny God, nor does it mend the matter to 
call nature God, and thus transfer the idea of a 
Deity to his works. Both systems exclude the 
idea of personal responsibility to a higher power 
and make man a God unto himself. Pantheism 
makes man a portion of the Deity, and so deifies 
man. On this theory man is God incarnate, 
above whom there is no God. In him the Divine 



DIVINE EXISTENCE AND PERSONALITY. 35 

consciousness is developed, and the highest 
worship is, of course, due to man. Such is the 
system which denies the distinct personality of 
God. And, on this theory, God did not create 
the universe. Creation is only a necessary de- 
velopment of God himself. It is the universal 
substance taking new forms, and passing into 
other modes of being; and that by a law of 
necessity. In short, by denying the personality 
of God it denies that there was properly any 
creation at all. The Bible is directly opposed 
to this system, and demands our belief in a per- 
sonal Being, who, existing of himself, is before 
all things and the Creator of all. Thus Moses 
says of him, " Before the mountains were brought 
forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and 
the world ; even from everlasting to everlasting 
thou art God." 

We conceive of God as an architect distinct 
and independent of his works, and as a distinct 
personal agent existing before he made the 
world. His works are not necessary develop- 
ments of himself, but creations of what previ- 
ously had no existence. He spake and it was 
done. At his command the universe sprang 
from naught, and by his power all are upheld. 
But though he is everywhere and all things 
exist in him, yet we do not confound him with 
the works of his hands. And without involv- 



2,6 ATHEISM AND THEISM. 

ing anything of the pantheistic idea we may 
say of him, that he 

" Warms in the sun ; refreshes in the breeze ; 
Glows in the stars; and blossoms in the trees; 
Lives through all life; extends through all extent; 
Spreads undivided, and operates unspent." 

God is everywhere, as the Scriptures teach, 
and yet not as the substance of all things, but 
as a distinct and pure Spirit, whose conscious- 
ness extends to all things and comprehends 
all. The Psalmist says, " O Lord, thou hast 
searched me and known me. Thou knowest 
my downsitting and my uprising, thou under- 
standest my thought afar off. Thou compassest 
my path and my lying down, and art acquainted 
with all my ways. For there is not a word in my 
tongue, but, lo, O Lord, thou knowest it alto- 
gether. Thou hast beset me behind and before, 
and laid thine hand upon me. Such knowledge 
is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot 
attain unto it. Whither shall I go from thy 
Spirit ? or whither shall I flee from thy pres- 
ence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art 
there ; if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art 
there. If I take the wings of the morning, and 
dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there 
shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall 
hold me. If I say, Surely the darkness shall 



DIVINE EXISTENCE AND PERSONALITY. 37 

cover me, even the night shall be light about 
me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee ; 
but the night shineth as the day : the darkness 
and the light are both alike to thee." It is 
this thought of an everywhere present per- 
sonal God, one whose eye is ever upon us, who 
takes cognizance of all our thoughts and words 
and deeds, whose presence we cannot shun, 
whose inspection we cannot avoid ; it is this 
thought, so unwelcome to the carnal mind, that 
infidelity in its varied hypotheses tries to get 
rid of, but in vain. Get rid of the Divine per- 
sonality and you get rid of all moral responsi- 
bility, and there remains neither virtue nor vice 
in the universe ; our conduct is the result of a 
fatal necessity, and we deserve no praise and 
incur no blame. All our acts are indifferent. 
Thus in morals the pantheistic theory is like 
the atheistic. It leads to similar results, and 
if generally received would deluge the earth in 
sensuality and crime. Get rid of the Divine 
personality and you get rid of the obligation to 
worship in all its forms. There is no longer 
any fitness in praise, there is no longer any need 
of prayer. Man is to himself a Deity, a temple, 
a priest, a sacrifice. He has all within himself. 
He has no need, and there is nothing to pray 
for and none to pray to. Nature is necessity, 
and God is nature. Prayer, therefore, is folly. 

4 



38 ATHEISM AND THEISM. 

Get rid of the Divine personality and you get 
rid of the idea of a future life and a future state. 
There is no individual immortality. It may be 
allowed that the race as such is immortal, and 
the doctrine of human perfectibility, as a hypo- 
thetical sentimentality, may be entertained ; but 
the individual man has no existence beyond this 
life. At death he is absorbed in the universal 
essence, to be developed again in some other 
form of existence. But all personal conscious- 
ness is forever lost. Such are some of the re- 
sults of a system which denies the Divia^ 
personality, which dethrones the self-existent 
personal God. It is twin-brother to atheism, 
and holds the same black creed in fact. 

The first verse in the Bible, " In the beginning 
God created the heavens and the earth," over- 
throws both atheism and pantheism. Like a 
two-edged sword, it cuts both ways. It asserts 
the creation of all things. It attributes that 
creation to a Being who must necessarily have 
existed before creation. Now the Creator of 
the universe must be an intelligent Being and 
possessed of personality. The idea of person- 
ality is inseparable from that of intelligence. 
We feel it to be so from our own consciousness. 
And having arrived at the knowledge of a First 
Cause, as demonstrated by his works, that very 
consciousness requires that we conceive of him 



DIVINE EXISTENCE AND PERSONALITY. 39 

as a person, a living person. For personality 
is a perfection belonging to man as a creature 
of God, and must belong to God himself in a 
higher degree. An impersonal, unconscious 
God would be inferior to man. And the idea, 
therefore, is absurd in the extreme. 

The personality of God, taught in the first 
sentence of revelation, is everywhere inculcated 
throughout the sacred Scriptures. Every page 
is stamped with this thought. It is patent in 
every sentence that speaks of him, or in which 
he speaks. It fills the whole compass of reve- 
lation and glows in every measure of the 
Divine economy. Here the only living and 
true God is revealed, first, in the person of his 
Son, Jesus Christ, who, being in the form of 
God, appeared as God, in all the theophanies of 
olden times, and thus made known or declared 
the Divine personality to the patriarch and 
prophets, and so to the world ; second, by the 
incarnation of his Son, who thus came forth 
from God and took on him the form of a ser- 
vant, and so made manifest the distinct person- 
ality of God as the Father, of whom are all 
things and we in him. We cannot read the 
Bible without a conviction that the God who 
made the heavens and the earth is a personal 
subsistence, a Being distinct from his works, an 
infinite Spirit, everywhere present, inhabiting 



40 ATHEISM AND THEISM, 

all things, upholding all things and governing all 
things after the counsel of his own will; a God 
near at hand and not afar off, to whom we are 
accountable for our conduct in this life, and who 
will render to every man according to his works. 
This conviction has arrested the transgressor in 
his path of crime and blanched his cheeks with 
terror as he thought of the fearful retribution 
awaiting him in the life to come. This conviction 
has agonized the penitent sinner, and induced the 
confession of his sins, and the earnest cry for 
mercy and forgiveness. This conviction has 
calmed the tumult of passion and given peace 
to the troubled mind, when, in the experience of 
justifying faith, the believer has realized that 
God is merciful and gracious, forgiving iniquity, 
transgression, and sin. This conviction has 
cheered and comforted the people of God in all 
their trials and afflictions and filled their hearts 
with confiding love to him who clothes the lilies 
of the field with beauty, feeds the birds of the air 
and the beasts of the earth ; and who, in the 
exuberance of his care for his saints who trust 
in him, numbers the hairs of their heads, and 
supplies all their need according to his riches 
in glory by Jesus Christ. 

The belief of the existence and personality 
of God, in short, is a primary requisition in 
morals and religion. It lies at the foundation 



DIVINE EXISTENCE AND PERSONALITY. 41 

of all true piety and virtue. u For he that 
cometh unto God must believe that he is, and 
that he is a rewarder of them that diligently 
seek him." Heb. xi. 6. It is the first stone 
laid in the temple of virtue. It is the first prin- 
ciple in the personal redemption of man. He 
that believes in God, who has a firm persuasion 
of his existence and personality, has the germ 
of a Divine life within, and by the grace of 
God may proceed onward and upward in the 
way of holiness until entirely conformed to the 
will of God and filled with all his fulness. 

" A Deity believed is joy begun ; 
A Deity adored is joy advanced ; 
A Deity beloved is joy matured. 
Each branch of piety delight inspires." — Young. 

The subject presented to our contemplation 
in the Scriptures of truth is full of grandeur 
and power. Here the evidence which nature 
presents of the Divine existence is confirmed by 
the testimony of revelation. Here the person- 
ality of Deity is certified as an incontrovertible 
truth, a never to be doubted reality. Faith sees 
here the Divine daguerreotype, — the Godhead 
painted by the sunbeams of inspiration. And, 
Oh, how glorious ! how infinite ! It is but his 
shadow, and yet the sun is a shadow in its 
brightness. God is Light, ineffable, unap- 
proachable light. His glory covereth the 

4* 



42 A THEISM AND THEISM. 

heavens, and the earth is full of his praise. God 
is a Spirit, an everywhere present Spirit ; him- 
self unseen, but seen in all his works. 

" Turn where ye may, from the sky to the sod, 
Where can ye gaze that ye see not God ?" 

The eyes of God are in every place, beholding 
the evil and the good. In him we live and move 
and have our being. We cannot read the Bible 
without feeling that we are brought into con- 
tact with the Deity ; not with a vague and un- 
defined ideality or pantheistic abstraction, but 
with a glorious, sublime, and ever-present spir- 
itual personality, who is the Father of our 
spirits and the Maker of our frame. Here our 
minds are refined by the truth and elevated to 
communion and fellowship with the infinite and 
eternal mind. We become partakers of the 
Divine nature and learn to cry Abba, Father, 
by his spirit which regenerates us with the 
word of truth and makes us children of God. 
We adore, we trust, we love, we obey, we walk 
in the light as he is in the light ; for he who 
commanded the light to shine out of darkness 
shines into our hearts, to give us the light of 
the knowledge of the glory of God in the face 
of Jesus Christ. For no man hath seen God 
at any time; the only-begotten Son who is in 
the bosom of the Father hath revealed him. 



THE ATTRIBUTES OF GOD, 43 



PART III. 

THE ATTRIBUTES OF GOD. 

The existence and personality of God being 
admitted as a necessary deduction from the na- 
ture, order, and relations of the universe, and 
proved by the testimony of revelation, we pro- 
ceed to consider the natural and moral attributes 
and perfections of God. Whatever we may 
certainly know, independently of revelation, re- 
specting intelligent beings we must obtain from 
a contemplation of our own nature and proper- 
ties, for we are not conversant with any other 
order of intelligences, supposing them to exist. 
It is not presumptuous in us, from what we 
know of the attributes of mind in ourselves, to 
infer the attributes of the eternal mind, for this 
is one of the processes by which God makes 
himself known to us ; and although we may 
err in our conclusions and fall far short of the 
reality, yet we must not, therefore, reject this 
source of knowledge as vain and useless. Even 
revelation, while it excels, does not discard it, 
but appeals to it as to a certain source of form- 
ing acquaintance with the Great First Cause. 
Paul, in Rom. i. 19, says, " Because that which 



44 ATHEISM AND THEISM. 

may be known of God is manifest in them," 
that is, in men; "for God hath showed it unto 
them," teaching us that in the human mind 
there is something answering to the Divine 
mind, and from which we may learn that which 
may be known of God. And in Psalm xciv. 
8-10, it is written, "Understand, ye brutish 
among the people; and ye fools, when will ye 
be wise ? He that planted the ear, shall he 
not hear? He that formed the eye, shall he not 
see ? He that chastiseth the heathen (nations), 
shall not he correct? He that teacheth man 
knowledge, shall not he know?" Thus Divine 
perceptions and knowledge are inferred from the 
possession of them by the intelligences whom 
he hath made : the Infinite from the finite. 

Man was made in the image and likeness of 
God, and the aphorism, " Man, know thyself," 
or Pope's adage, " The proper study of mankind 
is man," must not be understood as restricting 
our attention to the mental and physical phe- 
nomena of the human constitution, but as mak- 
ing it a key to unlock all .the treasures of wis- 
dom and knowledge, and enabling us to rise in 
our contemplation through nature up to nature's 
God. Let us then for a moment pursue this 
thought with reference to the existence and 
personality of God in a simple manner. My 
own consciousness assures me of my own de- 



THE ATTRIBUTES OF GOD. 45 

rived, dependent existence and distinct person- 
ality. I am sure that I exist. No dogma of 
metaphysical philosophy can eradicate this idea 
from my mind. I am sure that I exist by the 
will and power of a superior Being ; for as I am 
conscious that I did not originate myself, so I 
know that the first human pair from whom I 
sprung could not have been the authors of their 
own existence. And to whatever extent I track 
the chain of derived existence, I must at last 
arrive at a final cause, an underived and eternal 
one. And that cause must be intelligent, and 
hence possessed of all the attributes of distinct 
personality. To this process of reasoning I am 
committed in the very -nature of things. My 
mind cannot rest in anything short of the self- 
existent and eternal God. In him alone I reach 
the fountain of all existence, of whom are all 
things. 

Now, in learning what may be known of God 
we may not descend to inferior creatures, which 
are incapable of the higher order of reasoning, 
which are governed by instinct, as idolaters 
have done, who, " professing themselves to be 
wise became fools, and changed the glory of 
the uncorruptible God into an image made like 
to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed 
beasts, and creeping things." But we start from 
man himself as the highest order of beings in 



4.6 ATHEISM AND THEISM. 

this world, and rise to higher orders still until 
we reach the Infinite. Thus Paul reasoned with 
the Athenians, Acts xvii. 22-29: " Ye men of 
Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too 
superstitious ; for as I passed by, and beheld 
your devotions, I found an altar with this in- 
scription, To the unknown God. Whom there- 
fore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto 
you. God that made the world and all things 
therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and 
earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands ; 
neither is worshipped with men's hands, as 
though he needed anything, seeing he giv- 
eth to all life, and breath, and all things ; and 
hath made of one blood all nations of men for 
to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath 
determined the times before appointed, and the 
bounds of their habitation ; that they should 
seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after 
him, and find him, though he be not far from 
every one of us ; for in him we live, and move, 
and have our being ; as certain also of your own 
poets have said, For we are also his offspring. 
Forasmuch, then, as we are the offspring of 
God, we ought not to think that the Godhead 
is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by 
art and man's device." We must not think of 
God as inferior to ourselves, but as being supe- 
rior to ourselves ; as possessing, in perfection, 



THE ATTRIBUTES OF GOD. 47 

every good thing found in us, without any ad- 
mixture of evil. And in all our ideas of God 
we must bear in mind the infinite holiness of 
his nature as expressed in the cry of the cheru- 
bim, "And one cried unto another, and said, 
Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts ; the whole 
earth is full of his glory." Isa. vi. 3. 

Holiness in the Supreme Being is the state 
of entire separateness from all evil, and neces- 
sary and eternal devotedness to that which is 
good. Holiness is essential to his character. 
Our minds are shocked by any imputation of 
evil to God. Goodness is essential to the very 
idea of God. And we instinctively deny Divin- 
ity to a being in whose character there appears 
any trait or taint of evil. We may be ever so 
much perplexed in our efforts to account for the 
origin and existence of evil in the universe, yet 
we feel that it would be blasphemous to attrib- 
ute it to any moral obliquity in God. The idea 
of a malignant, unjust, vindictive, and implaca- 
ble God is not only absurd, it is horrible. The 
belief of it would either sink a man in hopeless 
despair or transform him into a fiend. A sane 
mind could not possibly entertain such an idea. 
We universally adopt the sentiment, — 

" If there's a power above us, 
And that there is all nature cries aloud 
Through all her works, he must delight in virtue.' ' 



48 ATHEISM AND THEISM. 

From our idea of the Divine character we must, 
therefore, separate all the evil and imperfection 
which we find associated with the human char- 
acter, and attribute to him, as the author of our 
being, whatever we find good in ourselves or in 
the universe, in the highest sense and in an in- 
finite degree. Goodness in the creature is a re- 
flection of the creative mind ; while evil is an 
antagonism, originating in the spontaneity of 
the human will, exercised in disobedience to the 
will of God, in a state of trial, necessary to the 
development of the moral character of a free 
agent ; for 

" Not man alone, all rationals heaven arms 
With an illustrious but tremendous power, 
To counteract its own most gracious ends." 

Young. 

Man's evil is of himself, and not chargeable to 
God. And with this view the Scriptures co- 
incide, for they testify that God made man in his 
own image; and God saw all that he had made, 
and behold it was very good. All God's works 
bore the stamp of goodness in the beginning. 
The signature of Godhead was affixed to all 
that he had made, and is apparent still, notwith- 
standing the presence of evil. It is said in Psalm 
v. 4, " For thou art not a God that hast pleasure 
in wickedness, neither can evil dwell with thee." 



THE ATTRIBUTES OF GOD, 49 

And in Habakkuk i. 13, it is said, " Thou art of 
purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not 
look on iniquity." And in James i. 13, it is said, 
" That God cannot be tempted of evil, neither 
tempteth he any man." In short, Scripture 
and reason both agree in representing God as 
supremely and unchangeably holy in his abso- 
lute separation from all evil, and his necessary 
and essential devotion to that which is good. 

The term glory is used for splendor or bright- 
ness, as we read of the glory of the sun, and 
the glory of the moon, and the glory of the 
stars. It signifies also the magnificence and 
pomp of earthly princes, as it is said that even 
Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed as 
gorgeously as the lilies of the field. It is used 
also to indicate the external splendor of angelic 
beings, as they appeared in ancient times in a 
luminous haze. And the majestic grandeur of 
God himself is called his glory. This glory has 
been measurably manifested by the various 
theophanies of the Old Testament history. But 
the term is also employed to designate the 
natural and moral attributes of God as revealed 
to us in his works of creation, providence, and 
redemption, and in this sense it may be under- 
stood when it is said, " the whole earth is full of 
his glory." 

Belonging to the self-existent and eternal one 
c d 5 



50 ATHEISM AND THEISM. 

are the attributes of Omnipresence, Omnisci- 
ence, Omnipotence, and Immutability. Belong- 
ing to the infinitely holy one are the attributes 
of Wisdom, Truth, Justice, and Benevolence or 
Love. And as God is one and indivisible, these 
attributes all perfectly harmonize in him. They 
are not accidental, but essential to his nature 
and character. They are not to be regarded as 
distinct from himself, nor from each other. They 
all combine in harmonious operation for the 
well-being of his creatures. There is no con- 
flict between them ; no discord in the Divine 
mind; no clashing of attributes in his govern- 
ment over the world, and no opposition of one 
against another in the redemption of man. 

The omnipresence of God signifies that he is 
everywhere ; that he inhabits all space and fills 
all times. " The omnipresence of God/' says 
Saurin, " is that universal property by which he 
communicates himself to all, diffuses himself 
through all, is the great director of all, or, to 
confine ourselves to more distinct ideas still, the 
Infinite Spirit is present in every place/' The 
immensity of his works demonstrates his ubiq- 
uity. In the solar system itself the distances be- 
tween the different bodies are amazing. The sun 
is distant from the earth 96,000,000 miles, and 
Herschel is said to be 1,822,000,000 miles from 
the sun. The nearest of the fixed stars, which 



THE ATTRIBUTES OF GOD. 51 

are supposed to be the suns of other systems of 
worlds, is at an almost incalculable distance 
from the utmost verge of the solar system, and 
so on through the immensity of space are sys- 
tems after systems sphered afar, overwhelming 
our thought with their number and their magni- 
tude. Now w T e cannot suppose that God pro- 
ceeded to make them consecutively, first forming 
a sun and then a world, and so going from orb 
to orb, and from system to system, leaving be- 
hind those already made without his care or 
superintendence. This would be a conception 
far below the greatness of God as thus demon- 
strated by his works. Reason demands that we 
regard him as being everywhere, and that his 
agency is as essential for upholding as for cre- 
ating all things, and with this the Scriptures 
agree. They testify that he fills all things, and 
that there is no escape from his presence, no 
place where he is not. 

The omniscience of God signifies his perfect 
knowledge of all things that have been, are now, 
or shall be, and of all that might have been, and 
are possible now or hereafter under every sup- 
posable condition and circumstance. His mind 
comprehended from the beginning all schemes 
of moral government, with all their means, 
forces, and operations, and their final results. 
Nothing was concealed from his view, nothing 



52 • ATHEISM AND THEISM. 

is hidden from his eye. He knows all past, all 
present, all to come. His knowledge is not only 
general, but particular. It extends to small 
things as well as to great things. Nothing is 
so trivial as to be unnoticed by him, and nothing 
so vast and complicate as to surpass his under- 
standing. 

" A thousand nameless acts, 
That lurk in lovely secrecy and die 
Unnoticed like the trodden flowers which fall 
Beneath a proud man's foot, to Thee are known, 
And written, with a sunbeam, in the Book 
Of Life, where mercy fills the brightest page." 

R. Montgomery. 

" We cannot think too oft; 
There is a never, never-sleeping eye 
Which reads the heart and registers our thoughts." 

W. T. Bacon. 

And yet there is no confusion in his mind, no 
mixing up of actions and events, but each is 
clearly and distinctly perceived and separately 
known. His comprehensive mind takes in at 
once all past, all present, all to come. His eye 
surveys the whole and all its parts, and the 
boundless universe has in it nothing hidden 
from his sight. And with this the Scriptures 
agree, which assert, " Neither is there any crea- 
ture that is not manifest in his sight; but all 
things are naked and opened unto the eyes of 
him with whom we have to do." 



THE ATTRIBUTES OE GOD. 53 

The omnipotence of God signifies his power 
or ability to do whatever he pleases ; to create, 
modify, and arrange or destroy. It must be 
observed that omnipotence does not involve 
the absurdity of doing contradictory things, as 
to create and destroy a thing at one and the 
same time, or that an infinitely good being can 
do evil. His omnipotence is the unbounded 
activity of his nature whereby whatever he wills 
is effected ; but he wills nothing contradictory 
and nothing evil. His volitions are not in 
opposition the one to the other, nor are they 
contrary to the infinite benevolence and recti- 
tude of his character. His creative power pro- 
duces a world as easily as an atom, and a uni- 
verse as easily as a world. All things owe 
their existence to him. All are subject to the 
laws which he ordained for their control. But 
he himself is above those laws, and can suspend 
or supersede them whenever he will. Miracles 
are therefore not impossible with God. They are 
but a part of his ways. He could make the sun 
stand still or suspend the operation of natural 
laws in given cases without disordering any of his 
works, if he found occasion to do so, as easily as 
cause iron to swim. His will and his energy act 
simultaneously in decreeing and executing, and 
whatever he wills he does. There is no exhaus- 
tion of his power, and he knows no fatigue. He 

5* 



54 ATHEISM AND THEISM. 

fainteth not, neither is weary, though he upholds 
all things by the power of his might. 

The immutability of God denotes the un- 
changeableness of his nature, his attributes, and 
his purposes. Any change of nature would 
imply imperfection either before or after the 
change. His nature is perfect, and therefore 
is not subject to change. Absolute perfection 
excludes change. Hence his attributes must 
always remain the same. He can never cease 
to be what he is, for then he would cease to be 
God, and for like reason his purposes must be 
unalterable. To alter them would be equiva- 
lent to an acknowledgment of error ; and God 
cannot err, for his wisdom is infinite. Hence 
he is of one mind, and none can turn him. He 
is the Father of lights, with whom is no variable- 
ness nor shadow of turning. He is not a man 
that he should lie, or the son of man that he 
should repent. 

The wisdom of God is his unerring counsel, 
whereby he employs his infinite and unbounded 
knowledge for the promotion of the greatest 
possible good, designing the best ends of crea- 
tion and government, and selecting the best 
means for their accomplishment. The wisdom 
of God appears in the construction of the uni- 
verse, the order and regularity of the heavenly 
bodies, the varied productions of the earth, the 



THE ATTRIBUTES OF GOD. 55 

wonderful and surprising adaptation of all things 
to some excellent uses, the construction of the 
human body, and the mental phenomena of 
man's nature. The eye, called the " master- 
piece of Divine mechanism, " displays the wis- 
dom of God. How complicated and yet how 
simple and complete the adjustment of all its 
parts ! How admirably adapted to the end for 
which it was made ! None but an infinitely wise 
being could have contrived it. And so of all 
the works of God. We contemplate them with 
wonder, and with the Psalmist exclaim, " O 
Lord, how manifold are thy works ! in wisdom 
hast thou made them all: the earth is full of 
thy riches." Truly, " the Lord by wisdom hath 
founded the earth ; by understanding hath he 
established the heavens." In the government 
of the world his wisdom may not be so conspic- 
uous, yet it is no less perfect, and in the end will 
be fully justified by its complete triumph over 
all evil and establishment of all good. Even 
now, as far as he hath in his word revealed to 
us his purposes and his operations, we wonder- 
ingly exclaim, " O the depth of the riches both 
of the wisdom and knowledge of God ! how 
unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways 
past finding out !" 

The truth of God is the absolute veracity 
of his nature, which affords the most unques- 



56 ATHEISM AND THEISM. 

tionable ground of confidence in the fulfil- 
ment of his word. We hence rely on the sin- 
cerity of his declarations, the faithfulness of his 
promises, the verity of his threatenings, and 
the certainty of his predictions. The truth of 
Gor> is deducible from the infinite holiness of 
his character, and is necessary to his moral 
perfection. There could be no perfection of 
character without truth, in which consists the 
immutability of his word. Truth gives honor 
and glory to moral character, and strength and 
reliableness to moral government. The testi- 
mony of the Scriptures to the Divine truthful- 
ness is abundant. Moses says, " He is the 
Rock, his work is perfect; for all his ways are 
judgment; a God of truth and without iniquity, 
just and right is he." Deut. xxxii. 4. The 
Psalmist says that u His truth endureth to all 
generations." Truth is in every work of his 
hands, in every word of his mouth, and in 
every measure of his providence. 

The justice of God is expressive of his 
impartial judgment and unbiased rectitude in 
the administration of his government over the 
world ; duly discriminating between the var- 
ious conditions and circumstances of mankind, 
and rendering to every man according to his 
works. With strictest accuracy he graduates 
the rewards of virtue and the punishments of 



THE ATTRIBUTES OF GOD. 57 

vice : for " he is a God of knowledge, and by 
him actions are weighed." The good and the 
bad will be treated with equal impartiality. He 
will lavish no indulgence upon the one ; he 
will inflict no wrong upon the other. He is 
not capricious, but proceeds according to the 
plan devised in infinite wisdom for the promo- 
tion of the greatest good, in the reconcilement 
of all things unto himself under one head. 
His justice is not at variance with his wisdom 
and goodness. It harmonizes in the same 
measures and for the same end. And though, 
in the judgments which he executes, he is 
called a consuming fire, it is only for the de- 
struction of evil, and the redemption of his 
creatures from sin and misery. His wrath, or 
the punishment he inflicts on the disobedient, 
is a means devised in wisdom for a gracious 
end : their subjection unto his righteous gov- 
ernment; and " though clouds and darkness are 
round about him, justice and judgment are the 
habitation of his throne." Justice is founded 
in right, and is the administration of right, 
and is protective as well as remunerative. And 
by the judgments it inflicts is working effect- 
ually and surely, with all long-suffering, for the 
final overthrow of all unrighteousness, the de- 
struction of wrong, and the deliverance of man 
from the thraldom of evil. 



58 ATHEISM AND THEISM. 

The benevolence or love of God signifies the 
essential law of his nature, which makes it his 
good pleasure to confer upon all his sensitive 
creatures, at all times, the greatest amount of 
happiness they are qualified to enjoy consistent 
with the greatest good of the whole. The love 
of God is an intelligent love, which is free from 
the weakness of caprice, and agrees with the 
eternal fitness of things. His benevolence ac- 
cords with the holiness of his nature and the 
wisdom of his designs. He loveth not evil. It 
is that which his soul hateth, and to the exist- 
ence and perpetuation of which in the universe 
his nature can never be reconciled. He loves 
goodness, virtue, order. He delights in the 
happiness of his creatures ; and his love of 
goodness leads him to employ all the resources 
of his providence and grace for the extirpation 
of evil, the destruction of wickedness, and the 
subjection and reconciliation of all things unto 
himself. The Lord will have pleasure in his 
works ; and his benevolence rests with entire 
complacency in the final result of his redeem- 
ing mercy. His love accords with his eternal 
purpose, and is therefore "real, solid, and per- 
manent, free from diversion and without inter- 
ruption. " It is from everlasting to everlasting, 
and is shown as well in the severity of his 
chastenings for the eradication of evil as in the 



THE ATTRIBUTES OF GOD. 59 

awards he bestows for the promotion of virtue. 
In short, the love of God is infinite and incom- 
prehensible, and is measured only by his own 
eternal mind. Our finite minds are unable to 
grasp and understand the Infinite. We are lost 
in the contemplation of the illimitable. Yet as 
the objects of that love, as manifested in Christ 
Jesus, we may know its length and breadth and 
depth and height in its demonstrations toward 
us for our salvation and eternal glory. For 
John says, " We have known and believed the 
love that God hath to us. God is love ; and 
he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God and 
God in him." " For God so loved the world 
that he gave his only-begotten Son, that who- 
soever believeth in him might not perish, but 
have everlasting life." This love is ever active, 
ever working for the accomplishment of its ob- 
ject. It never tires, for it is supported by the 
boundless energy of the eternal mind. It is 
never discouraged, for the purpose of God is 
sure of being effected. It shall never fail or be 
exhausted. It is infinite and eternal, and com- 
mands all the resources of nature, providence, 
and grace for the accomplishment of the Divine 
purpose as revealed in his word. 

Such are the attributes of God ! such his 
natural and moral perfections, as manifested in 
his works of creation, his providential govern- 



60 A THEISM AND THEISM. 

ment of the world, and his purpose of grace 
as revealed in the Scriptures of truth. The ex- 
hibition is glorious, and the display calls forth 
our admiring praise and profound reverence. 
We adore and love the great Supreme for what 
he has revealed to us of himself. And yet 
our conceptions of his attributes fall far short 
of the reality. They are far greater and more 
glorious than our thoughts can reach. For 
who by searching can find out God? Who can 
find out the Almighty to perfection ? It is as 
high as heaven. It is deeper than hell. The 
measure thereof is longer than the earth and 
broader than the sea. 

" Here, then, I doubt no more, 
But in his pleasure rest, 
Whose wisdom, love, and truth, and power 

Engage to make me blest. 
To accomplish his design 
The creatures all agree, 
And all the attributes divine 
Are now at work for me." 

Wesley's Col. 



THE GOVERNMENT OF GOD. 6 1 



PART IV. * 

THE GOVERNMENT OF GOD. 

There is a wonderful regularity and order 
observable in the motion of the heavenly 
bodies, or the planets, which belong to what 
is called the solar system. The revolution of 
the earth and other planets around the sun; 
the changes of the moon, — its eclipses, aspects, 
and nodes ; and even the return of some of the 
comets, may be calculated with unerring pre- 
cision for thousands of years. It is also from 
hence inferable that if the fixed stars are suns 
of other systems of worlds, the same order and 
regularity prevail among them all. Matter is 
also found to be possessed of various forces, 
called attraction, repulsion, cohesion, gravita- 
tion, etc., which under given circumstances 
produce certain results. These properties of 
matter, together with the different modes of 
existence, and order of succession, are called 
Laws of Nature. To these the atheist, deny- 
ing the existence of a Supreme Being, attributes 
all the phenomena of the physical world. As- 
suming the eternity of matter, in its primordial 
condition of diffused nebula or mist, he assigns 

6 



62 ATHEISM AND THEISM. 

all organism and motion to the fortuitous oper- 
ation of these laws. Suns and planets, accord- 
ing to his theory, were formed by the condensa- 
tion of this nebula. Plants and flowers, men 
and animals are but progressive developments 
of these wonderful laws. And thus having dis- 
pensed with a God in the creation, he finds no 
difficulty in dispensing with a God in the gov- 
ernment of the universe. Or if he should speak 
of a God, you must not suppose that he means an 
intelligent agent. His God is a mere abstrac- 
tion, a deification of nature's laws. But this 
mode of speech by which these mere abstrac- 
tions are clothed with fashioning and regulating 
powers, betrays the absurdity of the atheistic 
theory, and indicates the necessity for an in- 
telligent agent as the Author of the laws, as 
well as the creator of matter itself, and who 
still works in and by them the good pleasure 
of his own will. The laws of nature are not 
distinct and separate from nature. The term is 
used merely to express and stands for the prop- 
erties, modes, and relations of natural things. 
They are the strings of the instrument on which 
the Divine Intelligence which formed them is 
ever making the music of the spheres. 

Others, whose minds revolt at the atheistic 
theory of "No God," are disposed to limit him 
in his creative acts to the production of the 



THE GOVERNMENT OF GOD. 63 

simplest monadic. forms of matter, and attribute 
all else to the force of these laws, without his 
care or superintendence. They are compelled 
by the evidence in the case to admit the exist- 
ence of an intelligent first Cause of all things; 
but after having allowed him to create the ma- 
terial of the universe, they make him retire 
from the scene, and leave the whole to be 
wrought out and governed by the operation 
of these laws, or, in other words, to organize 
and govern itself. They find no necessity for 
a God except to create the germ of things. If 
they could have started without a beginning, 
they would have found no necessity for him at 
all. But after having a beginning, their system 
dispenses with his agency as completely as if 
he had ceased to be. 

Others go a little further in their admissions 
of Divine Agency by allowing that he organ- 
ized the material universe and gave it motion, 
formed all animal and vegetable substances and 
gave life to all that breathe, and then aban- 
doned it to the self-sustaining and self-govern- 
ing powers with which he had endowed it. 
But all these theories meet on this common 
ground, that they relieve the Almighty from 
the care and government of the universe. 
And we cannot help thinking that their dislike 
of the Divine government and control is at the 



64 A THEISM AND THEISM. 

root of their systems ; for it surely is more 
reasonable to believe in the all-pervading pres- 
ence and ever-watchful superintendence of the 
Supreme Being than thus to ignore his provi- 
dence, and exclude him from his works. That 
which his wisdom saw fit to create it must be 
his pleasure to govern. And what he designed 
as the ultimate end of creation he will by his 
providential government effect. " The Lord 
hath prepared his throne in the heavens, and 
his kingdom ruleth over all." Ps. ciii. 19. The 
supremacy of the Divine government is here 
indicated. His is a power above all powers. 
His throne is the centre of creation, and his 
sceptre reaches to its circumference. The wand 
of his power guides the stars in their courses, 
and all the elements of nature are subject to 
his control. He commands all agencies, and 
superintends all operations. He exercises an 
absolute dominion over the material universe, 
sustaining the order and harmony of the whole, 
through and by those laws which atheists 
blindly exalt in his place. For they are but 
the modus operandi of his providential govern- 
ment. Those laws were nothing without him, 
and could do nothing; for they are not intelli- 
gent agents, but simple natural forces. But as 
the spirit of the living creatures was in the 
wheels of Ezekiel's vision, and regulated and 



THE GOVERNMENT OF GOD. 65 

controlled their movements, so the Spirit of 
the Great First Cause of all is in those laws, 
working all things after the counsel of his own 
will. The earth is full of God. " He maketh 
the clouds his chariot and walketh upon the 
w r ings of the wind. He watereth the hills from 
his chambers. He causeth the grass to grow 
for the cattle, and herb for the service of man. 
These wait all upon thee, that thou, Lord, 
mayest give them their meat in due season. 
That thou givest them they gather : thou 
openest thy hand, they are filled with good. 
Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled : thou 
takest away their breath, they die, and return to 
their dust. Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they 
are created : and thou renewest the face of the 
earth." Ps. civ. 

" But wandering oft with brute unconscious gaze, 
Man marks not thee, marks not the mighty hand, 
That, ever busy, wheels the silent spheres; 
Works in the secret deep ; shoots, steaming, thence 
The fair profusion that o'erspreads the spring ; 
Flings from the sun direct the flaming day ; 
Feeds every creature ; hurls the tempest forth ; 
And as on earth this grateful change revolves, 
With transport touches all the springs of life." 

Thomson. 

But it is not the ignorant and debased alone 
who observe not the hand of God in nature and 

e 6* 



66 ATHEISM AND THEISM. 

providence, and who live without God in the 
world. These, it is true, in their ignorance and 
sensuality, regard not the work of the Lord, 
neither consider the operation of his hands. 
And this is that infidelity of indifferentism 
which is manifest in the common forgetfulness 
of God which prevails among the masses of 
mankind. But there is a more malignant kind 
of infidelity which has infected the springs of 
learning, and poisoned the minds of some of 
the educated and refined, and develops itself in 
the rich and powerful. Man, in the pride of 
unsanctified intellect, wealth, and power, is 
prone to exalt himself above all that is called 
God, or that is worshipped; and denying the 
Being and government of God, to say, as did 
Egypt's proud king, " Who is the Lord that I 
should obey his voice ?" or, as the Psalmist de- 
scribes them, saying, " With our tongues we 
will prevail ; our lips are our own ; who is 
Lord over us ?" It was in the spirit of this 
type of infidelity that the king of Babylon said 
in his heart, " I will ascend unto heaven. I will 
exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will 
sit also upon the mount of the congregation in 
the sides of the north. I will ascend above the 
height of the clouds. I will be like the Most 
High." " But when his heart was lifted up, and 
his mind hardened in pride, he was deposed 



THE GOVERNMENT OE GOD. 67 

from his kingly throne, and they took his glory 
from him. And he was driven from the sons 
of men, and his heart was made like the beasts, 
and his dwelling was with the wild asses ; they 
fed him with grass like oxen, and his body was 
wet with the dew of heaven : till he knew that 
the Most High God ruled in the kingdom of 
men, and that he appointeth over it whomsoever 
he will." Dan. iv. 25. This is that fearful type 
of wickedness which, diffusing itself through 
the ruling element of society, is consummated 
in the son of perdition, who, denying God, 
blasphemously assumes his prerogatives and 
arrogates his worship. And as it is the worst, 
so shall it be the last form of wickedness which 
shall curse the earth. Under this head and in 
this form it goeth into perdition. 

In the mean time, God reigns supreme de- 
spite their blasphemy and their rage. In vain 
they say, " Let us break their bands asunder, 
and cast away their cords from us. He that 
sitteth in the heavens shall laugh : the Lord 
shall have them in derision." Ps. ii. 3, 4. He 
reigns : and makes the wrath of man to praise 
him, restraining its excess. He reigns : and 
shall overturn all worldly rule, till he shall 
come whose right it is, and he will give it him ; 
and the government of earth shall be conformed 
to the government of heaven. " The Lord 



68 ATHEISM AND THEISM. 

sitteth upon the flood; yea, the Lord sitteth 
King forever.'' And while the proud rulers of 
this world are with impotent malignity trying 
to overthrow his government, and wrest the 
sceptre of earth from his hand, he, in the con- 
sciousness of infinite wisdom and everlasting 
might, smiles to naught their feeble folly, and 
overrules their rebellious schemes to advance 
ihe objects of his grace and bring about the 
consummation of his purposes in the subjection 
and reconciliation of all things unto himself: 
for his purpose shall stand and he will do all 
his pleasure. 

The Divine government is universal. It ex- 
tends from the central throne to the remotest 
world that rolls in space, and guides the flaming 
comet in its track among the spheres. It ex- 
tends from the highest to the lowest orders of 
created beings, and while it determines an angel's 
destiny, is not indifferent to a sparrow's fall. It 
extends from the affairs of mightiest empires to 
the concerns of the humblest cottage home, and 
while it holds the helm of state, and steers the 
noble ship freighted with millions of souls, it 
disdains not to guide the little bark of the lone 
voyager on the ocean of life. God hath made 
nothing independent of himself, or too wise and 
strong to need his counsel and protection. 
He hath made nothing unworthy of himself, 



THE GOVERNMENT OF GOD. 69 

nothing too mean to engage his attention, or to, 
be an object of his care. 

Intelligent beings of the highest order, who 
tower as gods in majesty and strength, shine in 
the light of his glory, and are girded by the 
power of his might. Though nearest the throne 
they are most conscious of their dependence 
upon .him, and yield themselves readily and 
cheerfully to his service. " The chariots of God 
are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels : 
the Lord is among them, as in Sinai, in the holy 
place." Ps. lxviii. 17. They are his messengers, 
and are employed by him in the administration 
of his providential government over the world, 
and are sent forth to minister to them who shall 
be heirs of salvation. Hence the Psalmist says, 
" Bless the Lord, ye his angels, that excel in 
strength, that do his commandments, hearkening 
unto the voice of his word." 

Nor are the fallen angels less subject to his 
government. Though in rebellion against him 
they left their own habitation, and lost that high 
estate of glory and dignity in which they were 
first placed, they have not been given up by the 
Sovereign Ruler of all to unrestrained anarchy 
and endless confusion. They have been arrested 
in their mad career of foolish pride, and made 
to feel that there is no escape from the strong 
hand of Omnipotence, by which they are bound 



JO ATHEISM AND THEISM. 

and reserved in chains under darkness until the 
judgment, awaiting the preparation of a suitable 
agency and means for their proper punishment, 
and entire subjection to his righteous govern- 
ment. 

He reigns over all the earth. He ordains and 
regulates the changes in its physical condition 
— its surface, soils, climates, and productions — 
as his wisdom sees best adapted to the ends of 
his moral government. In its Paradisical state, 
fitted up as the abode of sinless intelligences, it 
presented an unbroken surface of beauty, fanned 
by the balmy zephyrs of Eden, and there, in a 
garden planted by Jehovah's hand, grew the 
tree of life, as the means and pledge of perpet- 
ual existence to obedient man. But sin in its 
progress has made many changes necessary for 
man's sake, in the way of disciplining him and 
training him for a better life to come, until the 
whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain 
together ; until the deterioration of the condition 
of man is as great as the mercifulness of God 
will allow : a condition in which many com- 
forts are mingled with our afflictions, and many 
blessings assuage our woes. For " he giveth us 
rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our 
hearts with food and gladness." " He maketh 
the outgoings of the morning and of the evening 
to rejoice." " He crowneth the year with his 



THE GOVERNMENT OE GOD. fi 



goodness, and his paths drop fatness. They 
drop upon the pastures of the wilderness, and 
the little hills rejoice on every side. The pas- 
tures are clothed with flocks ; the valleys also 
are covered over with corn ; they shout for joy, 
they also sing." " The Lord is good to all, and 
his tender mercies are over all his works." {The 
Bible) And all this is intended to lead erring, 
sinful man to repentance, and inspire him with 
adoring gratitude and holy joy. But if it be 
necessary to chastise, — and necessary it as- 
suredly is, — then he calleth for -the famine and 
breaketh the whole staff of bread. He sendeth 
the pestilence that walketh in darkness, and 
the destruction that wasteth at noonday. But 
whether mercy or judgment be the measure of 
his administration, he makes the evil as well as 
the good subservient to his will, and through 
them accomplishes his infinitely benevolent de- 
signs, in effecting the salvation of his people 
and the subjection of all things to his govern- 
ment. 

Man is the principal subject of the Divine 
government on earth. He was originally made 
in the image of God, and set over the work of 
his hands. The inferior creatures were all put 
under his feet, and God designed to govern the 
world by man's agency. He made him but a 
little lower than the angels, and crowned him 



>] 2 ATHEISM AND THEISM. 

with glory and honor. And though by trans- 
gression the glory has been forfeited, and the 
crown has fallen from his brow, God has not 
relinquished his original design with respect to 
him ; a design which was formed with a perfect 
foresight of man's sin, and of all the evils re- 
sulting therefrom, and of all the wrath rendered 
necessary as a means of mercy for man's re- 
covery. Man's defection rendered necessary a 
change of method, a new covenant, for the ac- 
complishment of his design. And the govern- 
ment of God over this world is now a remedial 
one. The redemption of man is its object, and 
the means and agencies employed are such as 
in infinite wisdom he foresaw would be suitable 
and proper. 

It is true that man as a moral agent has the 
power to disobey God, and many walk con- 
trary to his will in breaking his commandments, 
in resisting his spirit, and abusing his mercies, 
but he cannot relieve himself of his responsi- 
bility to God, nor escape the just and righteous 
administration of his laws. A child's disobedi- 
ence does not annul his parent's authority, and 
man's transgression does not abrogate the Di- 
vine government, though it makes the trans- 
gressor liable to punishment. Reserving the 
chief rewards of virtue and punishments of vice 
to a future state may seem to embolden men in 



THE GOVERNMENT OF GOD, 73 

sin, and dampen the zeal of the good, but the 
arrangement is unquestionably in accordance 
with God's wisdom and benevolence, and best 
adapted to secure the end he hath purposed, — 
the final good of all. 

The wisdom and goodness of God, in the 
permission of evil, will, without doubt, be at 
last justified before an intelligent universe, and 
complete demonstration will be afforded of his 
holiness and rectitude in punishing the sinner 
for his transgressions, though he, in his sover- 
eignty, overrules the sinful conduct of men for 
the ultimate accomplishment of his glorious 
purpose. They are justly condemned who say, 
" Let us do evil that good may come," and God 
is infinitely just, who punishes the evil-doer 
while he overrules the evil for final good. The 
evil is not necessary to the good : the good 
might have been attained on the original plan 
or old covenant without the evil, but man's sin 
made void that covenant ; and now, by the Divine 
interposition in a new covenant, the good is 
being secured in despite of the evil. The evil 
causes delay in effecting the good, but shall not 
•prevent its ultimate attainment. 

The Divine government is perfect. It is 

reasonable to suppose that the Supreme Ruler 

of the universe proceeds, in the government of 

the world, according to a wise and benevolent 

d 7 



74 ATHEISM AND THEISM. 

design ; that before he made this goodly frame 
of things, before he gave birth to nature, and 
formed intelligent beings as the subjects of his 
government, he had present to his infinite and 
eternal mind all schemes of moral government, 
with all their evil and good, and that he chose 
the very best of all as that which he would 
produce and effect by his power. The evils in 
a moral system are the foreseen consequences 
of moral agency which implies the ability of 
intelligent beings to choose for themselves, and 
their liability to make a sinful choice. I avouch 
the attributes of God as a Divine warrant for 
saying that no system of moral agency could 
have been devised altogether and forever ex- 
empt from evil ; that it was not possible to 
secure the obedience of countless millions of 
free agents embraced in such a system. Some 
would, not from necessity, but willingly, trans- 
gress and abuse the power of choice by sinning 
against God. In the present moral system, as 
we legitimately infer from the Divine attributes, 
there is the least amount of evil and the greatest 
possible amount of good. And the evil there 
is in it can be most effectively controlled and 
soonest eradicated by the means employed with- 
out violating the freedom of moral agents. The 
control and eradication of evil we believe to be 
possible by suitable means, and an infinitely wise 



THE GOVERNMENT OF GOD. 75 

and holy being, having all means at command, 
will employ whatever may be necessary to that 
end. The Scriptures teach us that it will be 
effected under the future administration of his 
righteous government over the world ; that the 
kingdom of heaven, like the little leaven hid 
in three measures of meal till the whole was 
leavened, will powerfully assimilate the whole 
mass of mind to itself in righteousness and peace. 
The perfection of the Divine government im- 
ports the establishment of the wisest and best 
laws, the most accurate knowledge of the wants 
and resources of the system, the amplest pro- 
vision for all cases demanding special interposi- 
tion, the wisest and most efficient employment 
of means for the attainment of beneficial pur- 
poses, and the most constant and thorough in- 
spection and care of every part. In such a 
government nothing unforeseen occurs, and no 
exigency unprovided for. And hence is fur- 
nished the most solid ground for the sublime 
and cheering conclusion that nothing happens 
" without the knowledge and permission of un- 
erring wisdom and perfect goodness, and that 
all the vast affairs of the universe, in every par- 
ticular circumstance, and in every instance of 
time, are under the wisest and best direction." 
For " the Lord hath prepared his throne in the 
heavens, and his kingdom ruleth over alls" 



y6 ATHEISM AND THEISM. 

We deem these positions incontrovertible. 
The Lord's government is supreme, universal, 
and perfect. It is above all, and none can 
thwart it; it is over all, and none can elude 
it ; it is perfect, and none can change it. It is 
above all that we may revere it, it is over all 
that we may trust in it, it is perfect that we may 
rejoice in it. God is always the same. He 
changes not, and his government is unchange- 
able. He proceeds upon one plan, produced 
from one invariable principle, and that is order. 
The harmony of his perfections is never discon- 
certed, and hence the uniformity of his govern- 
ment, the equity of his administration. In his 
government goodness is ever in concert with 
justice, and mercy with truth, and peace with 
righteousness. There is no clashing of his 
attributes, no discord in his councils, where 
wisdom presides, supported by holiness and love. 

The government of God extends to and em- 
braces every creature. He is not so fully oc- 
cupied with the immensity of his works as to 
disregard or overlook the smallest of his crea- 
tures, or to be unmindful of their wants. His 
attention is not distracted by the multiplicity 
of the objects about which he is concerned. 
Jesus says that .not a sparrow falleth to the 
ground without his notice, and that he hath 
numbered the very hairs of our heads. His 



THE GOVERNMENT OF GOD. >]>] 

eye, then, is ever on us. He marks our going 
out and coming in. He observes our lying 
down and rising up. He seeth the path we 
take, and is acquainted with all our ways and 
doings. What a solemn thought for a poor 
lonely wanderer in the desert of affliction and 
trial ! " Thou, God, seest me !" What power 
in the thought to turn the feet from every false 
and wicked way, and turn them to the testi- 
monies of God ! What a power to awaken 
emotions of godly fear, and a sense of our 
responsibility to him for all we do ! How it 
constrains us to learn his statutes and ordi- 
nances, and to obey his commandments, so we 
may rely implicitly on his Fatherly love and 
care: having the assurance that all things work 
together for good to them that love him, and 
are the called according to his purpose ! Yea, 
the most afflictive dispensations of his provi- 
dence will then be freighted with the richest 
blessings of grace. How brightly the belief in 
an Overruling Providence lightens up the dark 
paths of human sorrow ! What cheering rays 
of comfort it sheds upon the grief-stricken 
mourner in the house of affliction! How 
sweetly it reconciles us to the losses and be- 
reavements of this life, by unfolding to our 
view a world of compensations in the future, 
and assuring us of a far more exceeding and 

7* 



78 ATHEISM AND THEISM. 

eternal weight of glory as the result of patient 
endurance of . sufferings here. 

The godless infidel, to whom life is a burden 
and the future is a blank, may sink in despair, 
and rush to the only means which his dark and 
cheerless creed leaves him to get rid of his 
misery, — a suicide's death, — and try to find 
repose in the oblivion of what he imagines will 
be an eternal sleep; but the Christian, viewing 
all the trials and afflictions of life as Divinely 
appointed, will, with Christ's example before 
his eyes, and Christ's word in his mouth, say, 
" The cup which my Father hath given me, 
shall I not drink it?" And looking up through 
his tears to the Father of all, he feels the 
strengthening influences of the angel of faith 
in his soul, and calmly waits till the shadows 
pass away, and the day of glory dawns upon 
him. 

" The Lord reigneth" is a solace for every 
trouble, a comfort for every grief, and a sup- 
port in every trial ; it is the foundation of 
peace and the strength of hope. This truth 
shall awaken the joy of earth and the gladness 
of the sea-girt isles ; and the inhabitants of the 
vales and the dwellers on the mountains shall 
shout to each other and say, Let us be glad and 
rejoice, for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth ! 
Hallelujah ! Amen ! 



THE ORIGIN OF EVIL. yg 



PART V. 

THE ORIGrN OF EVIL. 

It is not possible that a reflecting mind can 
be wholly indifferent to the question respecting 
the origin of evil in our world. And the sub- 
ject has engaged the attention of the most 
learned and pious minds, as well as the curiously- 
speculative and philosophical, from the earliest 
periods to the present time. Various hypoth- 
eses have been advanced without arriving at any 
very satisfactory result The question seems 
still to be involved in difficulty, and many have 
despaired of obtaining a satisfactory solution in 
this stage of existence, supposing that either 
our faculties are not capacious enough to take 
in the amount of knowledge necessary to its 
full understanding, or that it is purposely in- 
volved in doubt and obscurity during this pro- 
bationary state. 

The atheist, denying the existence of an 
Intelligent First Cause, and adopting the idea 
of the eternity of matter and nature's laws, 
attributes all the various phenomena of matter 
and mind to a fatal necessity. His conclusion 
amounts to this, " Things are because they are." 



SO ATHEISM AND THEISM. 

Evil is necessary. It arises from the operation 
of eternal, constant, and immutable laws. No 
one knows its origin; no one knows its end. It 
may have been eternal, — an element of nature. 
It may continue forever; for the laws of nature, 
by which it was produced in time past, being 
immutable, will in their future operation continue 
to produce it forever. But, at the same time, 
and with almost the same breath that the atheist 
asserts his belief " that everything in nature is 
necessary, that nothing to be found in it can act 
otherwise than it does ;" " that everything acts 
without intermission, after constant and immu- 
table laws;" " that each being is an individual, 
who in the great family executes the necessary 
task assigned him ;" " that man, in every mo- 
ment of his duration, is nothing more than a 
passive instrument in the hands of necessity :" 
yet speaks of man as exerting a power or force 
in the regulation of his own conduct, and giving 
direction to his own passions ; and says, " Pas- 
sions are the true counterpoise to passions. 
Then let him not seek to destroy them, but let 
him endeavor to direct them ; let him balance 
those that are prejudicial by those which are 
useful to society." " Reason, the fruit of expe- 
rience, is only the art (power) of choosing those 
passions, to which, for his own peculiar happi- 
ness, he ought to listen." " It is not nature 



THE ORIGIN OF EVIL. 8 1 

which makes man wicked, they are his (man's) 
institutions which determine him to vice. All 
the errors of mankind, of whatever nature they 
be, arise from man's having renounced reason, 
quitted experience, and refused the evidences 
of his senses, that he might be guided by imag- 
ination, frequently deceitful, and by authority 
always suspicious." And thus contradicting 
himself, he shows the absurdity of his theory ; 
for if "all the phenomena man presents, from 
the moment he quits the womb of his mother 
to that wherein he becomes the inhabitant of 
the silent tomb, — all his modes of action, — all 
his sensations, — all his ideas, — all his passions, 
— every act of his will, — every impulse he either 
gives or receives, — are but a succession of 
necessary causes and effects ; if everything he 
does, everything that passes within himself, are 
the effects of inert force, of self-gravitation, of 
the attractive or repulsive powers contained in 
his machine;" if "he always acts according to 
necessary laws from which he has no means of 
emancipating himself;" if his consciousness of 
voluntary choice and freedom be only an illu- 
sion, then how can he either destroy or give 
direction to his passions, or balance the preju- 
dicial by the useful ? Of what use is reason 
— the art of choosing those passions — to him ? 
He has no power of choice, and is under no 
/ 



82 ATHEISM AND THEISM. 

obligation to listen to its dictates. How can it 
be his institutions, and not nature, that deter- 
mine him to vice, when he does nothing at all 
but as a machine operated upon by nature's 
constant and immutable laws ? And how can 
his errors of all kinds whatever arise from his 
having renounced reason, quitted experience, 
and refused the evidence of his senses, when in 
doing so he is only acting as nature's laws com- 
pel him to act ? and these very acts from which 
it is said all his errors arise are themselves 
errors of no small magnitude? Such contra- 
dictory theses, glaring as they do upon almost 
every page of the atheist's* "System of Na- 
ture," are sufficient evidence of its absurdity, 
consisting for the most part of gratuitous as- 
sumptions and inconclusive reasonings. 

Dismissing the atheistic scheme, I turn to the 
Supralapsarian, which attributes everything to 
the absolute, unconditional, and immutable de- 
cree of God. The advocates of this scheme 
say that for his own glory merely, as a sover- 
eign, and for the manifestation of his attributes, 
God determined to create mankind, and that 
they should sin, that so his goodness might be 
displayed in pardoning and saving some, and 
his justice be exhibited in condemning and 

* De Holbach. 



THE ORIGIN OF EVIL. 83 

punishing others. On this scheme God has no 
regard for the happiness or misery of his crea- 
tures, but only for his own glory. On this 
scheme it is argued that God could foreknow 
all things simply because he decreed all things. 
And since he foreknew the existence, character, 
condition, and final destiny of all beings, he 
must have determined that they should be, and 
act, and be saved or lost according to his own 
pleasure. In other words, that all things come 
to pass just as he determined they should, and 
simply because he w r ould have it to be so. This 
allows of nothing contingent, and makes God 
alike the author of all evil as well as of all 
good. The origin of sin is in the Divine mind. 
It exists because he willed it. He might have 
willed otherwise, but it was his pleasure to have 
things as they are. 

To make such a system accord with those 
infinite and immutable perfections which belong 
to the Divine nature and character, already con- 
sidered, we must renounce the ideas we have 
hitherto entertained of right and wrong; we 
must do violence to all our conceptions of truth 
and equity. How can we conceive of an infin- 
itely holy Being determining for his own pleas- 
ure and glory that his intelligent creatures 
should sin and commit every crime that is 
abhorrent to virtuous minds ? How can we 



84 ATHEISM AND THEISM. 

conceive of an infinitely good Being creating 
millions of millions of sentient creatures with a 
view to consign them to everlasting misery for 
his own pleasure and glory? How can we 
conceive of an infinitely just Being determining 
that his creatures shall sin, and then punishing 
them for the sins committed in consequence of 
his decree? Surely to attribute such things to 
God is not to glorify him, for it is not to the 
glory of God to do wrong. His name is not 
exalted by unrighteousness. Such a represen- 
tation of God tarnishes his glory, stains his 
character, blasphemes his name, and vilifies his 
government. 

If God be holy, he cannot have pleasure in 
sin and wickedness ; if he be good, he cannot 
have pleasure in the misery of his creatures ; if 
he be just, he cannot punish the guiltless. This 
scheme is opposed to all the attributes of God, 
and is contradicted by the express testimony of 
Scripture, which declares that God is of purer 
eyes than to look upon iniquity ; that he hath 
no pleasure in the death of the wicked, and that 
his ways are all equal. 

But there are some who hold to this theory 
of the origin of evil, and endeavor to escape the 
deep damnation of it by maintaining that all 
evil, moral and physical, has been decreed of 
God only as a means of ultimate good, or, in 



THE ORIGIN OF EVIL. 85 

other words, that the evil was decreed as neces- 
sary to the good; and that when the evil shall 
have worked out the good which it is designed 
to accomplish by it, it will cease, and all sentient 
creatures will be made completely and eternally 
happy. They maintain that God hath decreed 
evil. It originated in his mind. It exists be- 
cause he willed it to be, as a means to good. 
But they say that he willed that it should be 
only of temporary duration, and for the purpose 
of securing an otherwise unattainable good. 
This view of it is indeed preferable to the other, 
inasmuch as it relieves the system of its worst 
feature, — that of representing God as of his own 
mere pleasure, and for the manifestation of his 
glory, decreeing absolutely the sin and endless 
misery of millions of his intelligent and sentient 
creatures: but it is also inadmissible, because, 
like the other, it makes God the author of sin, 
although for a beneficent end ; attributes the 
origin of evil to the will of the infinitely holy 
One ; and supposes that he at least may do evil 
that good may come. But how can God him- 
self do that which he unequivocally condemns 
in his creatures ? It is impossible. And even 
this modified form of the Supralapsarian scheme 
must be abandoned as untenable. 

The natural and moral perfection of God are 
such as preclude the idea of his being in any 



86 ATHEISM AND THEISM. 

way or manner the author of sin. And on this 
ground we repudiate all systems which contain 
in them, or logically involve, this blasphemous 
assumption. The word of God very explicitly 
teaches the contrary, and no one who reveres 
its authority can for a moment entertain the 
thought. First, Moses says, " He is a God of 
truth, and without iniquity/' Jehu, the son of 
Hanani, the seer, says, " There is no iniquity 
with the Lord our God." Elihu, the friend of 
Job, says, " Far be it from God that he should 
do wickedness, and from the Almighty that he 
should commit iniquity." David, the sweet 
singer of Israel, says, " For thou art not a God 
that hath pleasure in wickedness, neither shall 
evil dwell with thee." Habakkuk, the prophet, 
says, " Thou art of purer eyes than to behold 
evil, and canst not look on iniquity." Zepha- 
niah, the prophet, says, " The just Lord will do 
no iniquity." Paul, the apostle, says, " Is there 
unrighteousness with God? By no means." 
James, the apostle, says, " God is not tempted 
of evil, neither tempteth he any man." And 
John, the beloved disciple, sums up the whole 
of the testimony in saying, " God is light; and 
in him is no darkness at all." Or, in other 
words, the Divine Being is simply and essentially 
good, and in him is no evil at all. He is love, 
and in him is no malevolence at all. It follows, 



THE ORIGIN OF EVIL. 87 

then, that the evil in the universe is not attribu- 
table to God. It could not originate with a per- 
fectly and immutably good being. It did not, 
therefore, originate with him. 

The only rational conclusion, and which fully 
accords with the testimony of God's word, is 
that evil originated, as far as this world is con- 
cerned with man, by the voluntary abuse of his 
free-agency in transgressing the commands of 
God. Man's free-agency consists in the liberty 
he has of doing as he pleases, or according to 
the determinations of his own will. Man is 
possessed of those powers which constitute him 
a moral agent, — intelligence, judgment, and will. 
By these mental powers he is qualified to 
perceive the nature of actions, to distinguish 
between right and wrong, and to choose for 
himself. Of the possession of these powers he 
is fully conscious, and the Scriptures in recog- 
nizing him as possessed of them, commend 
themselves to every man's conscience in the 
sight of God. We feel that the following lan- 
guage is appropriate to us, and is appropriate 
only to free-agents : " See, I set before thee this 
day life and good, and death and evil, in that I 
command thee this day to love the Lord thy 
God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his 
commandments and his statutes and his judg- 
ments, that thou mayest live and multiply; and 



A THEISM AND THEISM. 



the Lord thy God shall bless thee in the land 
whither thou goest to possess it ; but if thine 
heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear, but 
shalt be drawn away, and worship other gods 
and serve them, I denounce unto you this day 
that ye shall surely perish, and that ye shall not 
prolong your days upon the land whither thou 
passest over Jordan to possess it. I call heaven 
and earth to record this day against you, that I 
have set before you life and death, blessing and 
cursing; therefore choose life that both thou 
and thy seed may live ; that thou mayest love 
the Lord thy God, and that thou mayest obey 
his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto 
him," etc. Again, " How long halt ye between 
two opinions ? Choose ye this day whom ye 
will serve. If the Lord be God, then serve 
him ; but if Baal, then serve him." These pas- 
sages, with many others which might be quoted, 
establish beyond all cavil the fact of man's free- 
agency. They suppose him to be at liberty to 
choose for himself his course of conduct in life, 
and serve whom he will. And without this, man 
could not be a subject of moral government at 
all. Two things are necessary to constitute any 
one a subject of moral government, — first, the 
possession of faculties adapted to that condition 
of amenability to law ; and, second, liberty to 
use those faculties in obeying or disobeying the 



THE ORIGIN OF EVIL. 89 

law. Just such a being is man. He is therefore 
a free agent. 

What man is constitutionally, such was he 
created. He was created with the powers of a 
free agent. He was created under law, and 
amenable to his Creator for the use of his powers 
in obeying or disobeying law. He was made 
upright, but to confirm himself in uprightness 
and attain improvement of his condition volun- 
tary obedience to the law was necessary. His 
was a state of trial, and trial implies hazard. It 
was in his power to disobey God and to involve 
himself in transgression and death. But it was 
also in his power to have continued obedient, 
and so secure perpetuity of life and exaltation 
in glory. He had the power of choice, " an 
illustrious but tremendous power." He could 
determine for himself. Obedience or disobedi- 
ence were within the scope of his powers ; made 
just and right, " sufficient to have stood, though 
free to fall." He acted according to the deter- 
mination of his own will, or, he acted freely. 
There was no compulsion upon his will to de- 
termine it irresistibly to evil. He was not 
compelled to sin. He sinned of his own accord. 
The sin was all his own, and on him the con- 
demnation fell. He justly bears the blame. 
And it was thus " by one man sin entered into 
the world, and death by sin, and so death 

8* 



90 ATHEISM AND THEISM. 

passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." 
This language clearly defines the origin of 
moral evil and of physical evil as a consequent 
punishment or remedy. The origin of evil is 
fixed upon man; upon one man, the first man, 
the natural progenitor of the human race, the 
only created man, who was made in the image 
of God, and constituted the representative of 
all his posterity, and who in that capacity acted 
for alL His obedience, had he continued faith- 
ful, would have been the obedience of all, and 
would have secured to all access to the tree 
of life for the perpetuity of their natural life. 
And his disobedience is the disobedience of all, 
by which access to the tree of life was forfeited, 
and all are involved in the penalty of death, 
which entered by sin. Hence death hath passed 
on all men, for that all have sinned ; that is, all 
have sinned in Adam officially ; for the act of a 
representative is reckoned imputatively to those 
whom he represents. By Adam's transgression 
all are made sinners, and the penalty comes 
upon them all. Here, then, we reach the source 
or spring of evil, from whence has flowed the 
streams of moral corruption and physical mis- 
ery which have desolated the heritage of man. 
It was man's voluntary abuse of that liberty 
which belonged to his nature. It was his free 
act of disobedience in the use of those powers 



THE ORIGIN OF EVIL. 91 

which constituted him a free agent. " By one 
man sin entered into the world." Moral evil 
had its origin there. And from thence it has 
flowed to all mankind. 

But an objector may say that since man is a 
creature of God, and was endued by his Creator 
with those faculties which constitute him a free 
agent, God is, even on this theory, the Author 
of that liberty from which moral evil has 
sprung, and hence also, implicatively, of moral 
evil itself. This objection is founded on an 
erroneous view of the subject, for sin is not a 
necessary result or positive consequence of free 
agency, which it should be to give any force to 
the objection. A free agent is possessed of 
faculties which render him amenable to just and 
righteous laws, but which leave his obedience 
to those laws voluntary. He is not acted upon 
as a machine is operated by some external force, 
compelling it to a certain necessary motion. 
Man, in willing either good or evil, is free from 
compulsion. He has faculties for examination, 
comparison, judgment, and choice. His free- 
agency is the liberty of choosing according to 
his own judgment or inclination. And while 
he is indebted to the Creator for this liberty or 
for his free-agency, he is himself alone respon- 
sible for the use he makes of it. And he is held 
to be blame- or praiseworthy as his conduct 



92 ATHEISM AND THEISM. 

may either be vicious or virtuous. No blame 
can attach to the Creator for the wrong use 
man makes of this liberty ; on the contrary, God 
has in his moral government of the world 
thrown around man all the restraints from vice, 
and imposed all the limits to the exercise of 
his free-agency which were wise, consistent, and 
proper. 

Another objection is that as God certainly 
foresaw the sin of man, he might have inter- 
posed to have prevented it, and since he did 
not, but permitted man to sin, it follows that on 
the whole he preferred the existence of moral 
evil, yea, decreed it, as whatsoever is certainly 
foreknown must also be foreordained, and if 
foreordained, then necessary and wholly de- 
pendent on the Divine determination, as the 
cause of all that is, and that, consequently, God 
is the author of moral evil. In answering this 
objection, I admit that God foresaw the sin of 
man, and that he might have prevented it by 
not choosing to make man. God was under 
no positive necessity to create anything, but he 
could not create man a free agent without be- 
stowing upon him that freedom belonging to 
free-agency, which it was possible man might 
abuse to the introduction of moral evil. The 
choice with God was, so to speak, between cre- 
ating and not creating, or between this moral sys- 



THE ORIGIN OF EVIL. 93 

tern and some other moral system. Now, we are 
warranted by the attributes of God to infer that 
the Divine choice in producing this moral sys- 
tem in preference to none, or to any other, is 
the best and wisest, and that the result will 
justify his wisdom and goodness. And that in- 
stead of preferring the existence of moral evil 
in the universe he has chosen a system in which 
there is the least of it, and in which the best 
and most efficient means are employed for its 
removal as speedily as possible. I also admit 
that what is certainly foreknown must also be 
foreordained ; but I deny the inferences of the 
objector, whereby he would make God the 
Author of sin. For, as there were present to 
the infinite and eternal mind all possible systems 
of moral agency, with the conduct which men 
would voluntarily pursue under all conditions 
and circumstances, his foreknowledge and 
foreordination relate only to his choice of that 
which he saw would be attended w r ith the least 
evil resulting from man's free-agency, and in 
which the evil should be the most effectively 
and speedily overcome and extirpated, and does 
not render the conduct of man necessary or un- 
avoidable. Because he saw that man, being 
free, might and ought to have pursued a differ- 
ent course of conduct. His choice of the best 
possible moral system is his foreordination of 



94 



ATHEISM AND THEISM. 



it, and renders it certainly foreknown ; the term 
foreknowledge being employed to designate his 
certain prescience of the good and evil condi- 
tion, circumstance, and final end of that system 
chosen by him in preference to those which he 
knew as possible, but which were not foreknown 
because not chosen, and were merely hypotheti- 
cal. Again, his choice is his will. To choose 
a system or plan was with him to will or de- 
termine its existence. And he wills what is 
best, and does what he wills. But he does not 
destroy the freedom of man's will, for he wills 
man to be free, and, therefore, he guarantees 
his freedom to think and act freely, though he 
foresaw how he would act. Yea, God was 
bound to support man in this freedom of action, 
even when man chose to rebel against him and 
break his laws. Yet has he so arranged the 
times, circumstances of condition, and means, 
that in the end he will accomplish a purpose in 
regard to our race entirely consonant with the 
infinite benevolence and rectitude of his char- 
acter. 

This view of the subject allows the absolute 
perfection of the divine attributes, maintains the 
essential foreknowledge and foreordination of 
all that comes to pass, fully establishes the free- 
agency of man and the contingency of second 
causes, demonstrates that the origin of sin or 



THE ORIGIN OF EVIL. 95 

evil is in man's abuse of his liberty or free- 
agency, and vindicates the moral government 
of God from the imputation of cruelty and in- 
justice. The Bible, containing a revelation of 
the mind and will of God, and the unfolding of 
this stupendous system of moral government 
over the world, entirely accords with this view. 
It declares that " Known unto God are all his 
works from the foundation, or rather, the cast- 
ing down of the world ;" that the saints are 
" chosen in Christ Jesus before the w.orld be- 
gan, according to the foreknowledge of God, 
through sanctification of the spirit and belief 
of the truth." It addresses man as a free 
agent, charges upon him the origin of sin, and 
declares the ways of the Lord to be just and 
equal. 

The record sustains this view of the origin 
of evil : " By one man sin entered into the 
world, and death by sin, and so death passed 
upon all men, for that all have sinned. " The 
one man was Adam, who was made in the im- 
age of God, in uprightness and true holiness. 
There was then no evil in the world. All 
things which God had made were very good. 
Man was then put in a garden which God had 
planted, where all was beautiful and good, and 
there was everything to minister to his happi- 
ness. A single tree was selected from among 



96 a theism and theism. 

the thousands of which man was at full liberty 
to eat, and made the test of his obedience by for- 
bidding him to eat of it. This prohibition was 
associated with man's representative character. 
It involved all the obligations and duties of 
man to God. So long as the prohibition was 
obeyed all those obligations- and duties were 
fulfilled; but the violation of it was a wilful 
rejection of the Divine authority and renuncia- 
tion of his claims. Man was tempted to think 
that in eating of this fruit he would attain an 
improvement of his condition, and he ate it 
knowing it was sin to do so. Alas, how sad and 
deplorable the result ! It was an act of rebellion 
against God. It was the first transgression. It 
opened the door for all other sins. It involved 
all men in condemnation and death. 



THE SCHEME OF REDEMPTION. 97 

PART VI. 

THE SCHEME OF REDEMPTION. 

Atheists are obliged to admit the existence 
of evil, but have no remedy for it. On their 
scheme it is an eternal necessity. The laws of 
nature, which have hitherto produced it, will 
continue to produce it forever. And those laws 
are unchangeable. There is no power above 
them by which they can be altered or improved. 
Hence all existing forms of evil are necessarily 
eternal by the immutability of their cause. 
Hence atheism not only offers no hope to the 
individual whose ephemeral existence is crowded 
with ills, and is soon extinguished in an eter- 
nal sleep, but it offers none to the race which, 
struggle as it may against evil, and strive as it 
may for improvement, must struggle and strive 
in vain, forever bound to misery and death by 
the eternal and immutable laws of nature. The 
word redemption is not found in the godless 
creed of atheism. Its chief minister is despair, 
and its consummation is death. 

Redemption is a doctrine of theism, and its 
only authentic record is revelation, by which 
God has " made known unto us the mystery of 

E 9 9 



98 ATHEISM AND THEISM. 

his will, according to his good pleasure which 
he hath purposed in himself: that in the dispen- 
sation of the fulness of times he might gather 
together in one/' under one head, " all things in 
Christ, both which are in heaven, and which 
are on earth ; even in him." Eph. i. 9, 10. " And, 
having made peace through the blood of his 
cross, by him to reconcile all things unto him- 
self; by him, I say, whether they be things in 
earth or things in heaven." Col. i. 20. 

Many treat this subject as if it were an ap- 
pendage to God's original plan, an after-thought, 
a device intended to repair to as great an extent 
as possible the disturbance of that by the in- 
troduction of sin. Just as if God at first had 
adopted some other plan, which had been unex- 
pectedly frustrated, and he was now trying the 
experiment of repairing it by substituting the 
economy of redemption in its place. This is a 
mistaken view of the case. God never had but 
one plan, and that included the scheme of re- 
demption. Whatever other plans might have 
been known to him as possible, he did not choose 
any of them. His infinite mind comprehended 
all possible systems of moral government and 
all plans of creation and providence; but, in his 
infinite wisdom and goodness, he chose the best ; 
and that which he selected is the real or actual, 
which was begun in creation, and is still carried 



THE SCHEME OF REDEMPTION. 



99 



on in his providential government over the 
world. He could not be disappointed in the 
workings of the system, for he knew perfectly, 
before he made choice of it, what would be its 
operations and results. And nothing unfore- 
seen could arise to render a change necessary. 
The creation, fall, and redemption of man is 
embraced in this system. The Adamic cove- 
nant was frustrated by the fall of man. That 
was foreseen and provided for, and all the 
changes rendered necessary in the physical, 
political, and moral condition of the world for 
the purposes of redemption entered into the 
original design. Creation and redemption are 
only parts of the one plan which his infinite 
wisdom approved before all others which he 
knew as possible. For though God knew that 
it was possible for man as a free agent to obey 
him, and so secure life to himself and all his 
race by the covenant of works, and knew all 
the measures of government which would have 
been required under that covenant ; yet that was 
known only as a possible condition of things. 
And he also certainly knew that man would 
actually abuse his liberty and transgress the law 
of that covenant, and so render necessary some 
provision for his redemption. And he knew 
also what provision it would be wise and proper 
to make to overcome and extirpate sin and sub- 



100 ATHEISM AND THEISM. 

due and reconcile all things to himself. And 
he determined on the present system of moral 
government, with all its temporal evils, arising 
from man's sin, and all its everlasting benefits, 
resulting from his boundless goodness. In this 
system all the forces, moral and physical, that 
could be employed consistent with man's free 
agency God has mercifully interposed to re- 
strain, subdue, and overcome the evil and bring 
about his design in the reconciliation of all 
things to himself, which, as the end of all, is 
called his eternal purpose in Christ Jesus our 
Lord. 

The unsearchable riches of Christ, which 
Paul says it was his privilege to preach among 
the gentiles, comprehend the true dignity of 
his divine nature as the Son of God, the bright- 
ness of the Father's glory, and express image 
of his person ; the high honor of his mediator- 
ship in creating, sustaining, and governing all 
things, and his universal sovereignty as the heir 
of all things. Before his incarnation, for the 
purposes of redemption, he filled the throne of 
the universe as the representative of God, and in 
his august and glorious presence adoring angels 
bowed, and, being in the form of God, he thought 
it no robbery to be as God, and so appeared 
in the theophanies of those olden times. And 
though in his humiliation he was despised and 



THE SCHEME OF REDEMPTION. [Of 

rejected of men, and a proud and unbelieving 
world still scorns his precious name and rejects 
his easy yoke, " God hath highly exalted him, 
and given him a name that is above every name ; 
that at the name of Jesus every knee should 
bow, of those in heaven, those on earth, and 
those under the earth ; and that every tongue 
should confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory 
of God the Father." 

In this connection it was Paul's mission to 
make all men see what is the fellowship of the 
mystery which from the beginning of the world 
had been hid in God, who created all things by 
Jesus Christ. This mystery is the scheme of 
redemption included in the general plan of his 
moral government not previously fully revealed. 
Some distinct and hope-inspiring revelations 
had indeed been made respecting it, as in the 
curse pronounced upon the tempter, it was said 
that the Woman's Seed should bruise his head, 
indicating the triumph of Christ over the evil 
one, and in the promise to Abraham, that in his 
seed should all the families of the earth be 
blessed, indicating the universality of peace and 
good-will through the mediation of Christ, 
and in the promise to David that his seed 
should have dominion from sea to sea, and 
from the rivers unto the ends of the earth, and 
that his throne should be established for ever- 



102 ATHEISM AND THEISM. 

more. In the firmament of prophecy many a 
star of beauteous light shed its effulgence upon 
the human mind ; but the full revelation of the 
plan was reserved for the gospel period, in 
which the grace is given to the ambassadors of 
Christ to make all men see what is the fellow r - 
ship of this mystery. And the several ages or 
dispensations in which this mystery has been 
from time to time revealed, and shall be mani- 
fested to its final consummation, were from the 
beginning ordained or constituted by Jesus 
Christ. Hence there is nothing fortuitous in 
the arrangements of redemption, but all things 
come to pass according to a settled plan. 

Whether there are other worlds in the uni- 
verse of God where sin has entered and redemp- 
tion has been instituted we know not, but one 
intent of human redemption is " that unto the 
principalities and powers in heavenly places 
might be known by the Church the manifold 
wisdom of God." If by these principalities and 
powers are meant the angels of God, as is gen- 
erally supposed, then it is indicated that the 
mysteries of redemption are only revealed to 
them in its progressive development by or 
through the Church. No special revelation is 
made to them except as they may be employed 
in ministering to them who shall be the heirs 
of salvation. They, therefore, desire to look 



THE SCHEME OF REDEMPTION. 103 

into these things, and watch with absorbing in- 
terest the unfoldings of the glorious scheme. 
And by the discovery of the manifold wisdom 
of God in this wonderful work they are fur- 
nished with new themes of rejoicing and new 
songs of praise to God. But if, as I think prob- 
able, by these principalities and powers are 
meant the saints of God, so called because they 
are chosen of God in Christ Jesus, according 
to his eternal purpose, to be kings and priests 
unto God in his heavenly kingdom when it 
shall be set up on earth, then it signifies that 
the intent of gospel ministrations is now to make 
known to them through the Church the mani- 
fold wisdom of God in choosing and training 
them for that future high and glorious condition. 
And by discovering to them what is the prize 
of their high calling in Jesus Christ, excite 
them to a more diligent application to the 
means of grace instituted in the Church for 
their advancement in all that constitutes a prep- 
aration for eternal glory. 

Without doubt, then, the plan of Redemption 
constituted a part of the original purpose of 
God, and implies also the foreknowledge of the 
fall of man ; for redemption contemplates the 
recovery of mankind from sin and death. And 
since the introduction of sin was foreknown the 
mode of its introduction was foreknown. And 



104 ATHEISM AND THEISM. 

hence the official character of the first man, as 
the representative of his race, and the conse- 
quent imputation of his sin to his posterity 
.entered into the original plan, as did also the 
official character of Christ as the second repre- 
sentative, and the imputation of his obedience 
to the human family, so that, as by the first 
came death, by the second came also the resur- 
rection of the dead. And in this arrangement 
we are presented with the first feature of the 
scheme of redemption, viz. : 

I. The Provision made for man's recovery 
from the penalty of official transgression. Adam 
was constituted the representative of his race. 
The interest involved in this official relation was 
life, natural life, to be perpetuated by their ac- 
cess to the tree of life. The obedience required 
of him was to abstain from the fruit of the tree 
of knowledge of good and evil. The penalty 
annexed to a violation of the prohibition was 
death, death to himself and all his race. In the 
conduct of the representative was involved the 
condition of those he represented. And by his 
disobedience they all were made sinners, for 
his transgression they were condemned, and by 
his sin the penalty of death came upon them 
all ; for in Adam all die. 

In redemption Jesus Christ sustains the same 
official relation to the human family; he is like- 



THE SCHEME OF REDEMPTION. 105 

wise constituted the representative of all. On 
this account he is called the second man. And 
both sustained this relation by a Divine consti- 
tution. In this relation also the obedience of 
Christ is contrasted with the disobedience of 
Adam, and the benefits we receive by the for- 
mer are contrasted with the evils accruing to us 
from the latter. Thus Paul says, " Therefore, as 
by the offence of one judgment came upon all 
men to condemnation, even so by the righteous- 
ness of one the free gift came upon all men unto 
justification of life. For as by one man's diso- 
bedience the many were made sinners, so by the 
obedience of one shall the many be made righte- 
ous." And again, " For since by man came 
death, by man came also the resurrection of the 
dead ; for as in Adam all die, even so in Christ 
shall all be made alive." Here it is shown 
that all mankind have transgression in Adam 
and righteousness in Christ, condemnation in 
Adam and justification in Christ, death in 
Adam and life in Christ. Adam sinned, and 
by imputation all were made sinners and brought 
under the penalty of death, for Adam represented 
all. Christ obeyed, and by imputation all were 
made righteous, and justification unto life came 
upon all, for Christ represented all. No man, 
since Adam, died for his own sin, but all be- 
cause Adam sinned. No man shall live again 



106 ATHEISM AND THEISM. 

for his own righteousness ; but all shall live 
again because Christ obeyed the law and made 
it honorable. Hence Paul says, " We have hope 
in God that there shall be a resurrection of the 
dead, both of the just and the unjust." This 
hope in God is founded on the Divine constitu- 
tion making Christ the second representative 
man, and through his obedience in that relation 
saving all men from the penalty of Adam's sin. 
Constituting Adam the representative of all his 
race extended his sin officially to all, and in- 
volved all in the penalty of death. Constituting 
Christ the representative of the same race, with 
whom he became allied by incarnation, extended 
his righteousness to all, and secured to all a 
resurrection from death to life again. Such a 
constitution was absolute and unconditional, and 
is so because God saw it was the wisest and best 
arrangement that could be made, and so willed 
it. By this arrangement Adam's sin shrouded 
our world in clouds of wrath, but Christ's 
righteousness restores the sunshine of Divine 
love. Adam's sin peoples the dark domains 
of death, but Christ's righteousness opens the 
doors of the pit and releases the prisoners. 

" Death in Adam, life in Christ ; . . . 
Who art thou that heedest of Redemption as narrower than 
the fall?"— Tupper. 

As the second representative man, Christ, by 



THE SCHEME OF REDEMPTION. \0J 

his obedience, will fully repair the ruin effected 
by Adam's sin, and restore to all mankind the 
life forfeited by it and the state lost by it. And 
the restoration will be complete and eternal, as 
it is absolute and unconditional. 

But the disobedience of Adam did not make 
his posterity morally guilty. This could only 
be contracted by personal transgression. And 
if Adam had continued obedient, as was possi- 
ble, although he would have thereby secured 
life for all, and then death had never entered, 
still it would have made none morally righteous 
but himself. Hence, then, had the covenant of 
works been perpetuated by Adam, there must 
have been a time of trial for each of his pos- 
terity under that covenant, and the claims of the 
Divine law would have been sanctioned by ade- 
quate rewards and punishments. And this 
would doubtless have occasioned a difference 
of condition among the descendants of Adam. 
The obedient would have been exalted in honor 
and glory in the government of the world, and 
the disobedient would have been punished and 
subjected to just and righteous laws in a sub- 
ordinate condition. And in Redemption we 
have the counterpart of this in the second 
feature of the scheme : 

II. The provision made for man's recovery 
from the guilt, dominion, and consequences of 



108 ATHEISM AND THEISM. 

present transgressions, and his salvation with 
eternal glory. Christ's righteousness, as im- 
puted to all men according to the provision al- 
ready considered, does not make them morally 
righteous. It is their official justification from the 
imputation of Adam's sin, and their title to the 
natural life forfeited to them by his transgression. 
It goes no further. But he that doth righteous- 
ness is righteous. Under the covenant of grace all 
are in a state of trial and liable to sin. Hence to 
complete the work of redemption there must be 
a method of justification from the guilt of per- 
sonal transgressions, and a way of righteousness 
for obedient man. And this is not by works of 
righteousness which we can do, but by faith in 
Jesus Christ. The transgressor of law cannot 
be justified by the law. The law condemns all 
who transgress it. It makes no provision for 
the forgiveness of the criminal. But the righte- 
ousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, 
being witnessed by the law and the prophets, 
even the righteousness of faith which is unto 
all and upon all them that believe. Believers 
in Christ are justified from all things from 
which they could not be justified by the deeds 
of the law. Their faith is imputed to them for 
righteousness. As it is written, Abraham be- 
lieved God, and it was imputed to him for 
righteousness ; now it was not written for his 



THE SCHEME OF REDEMPTION. 109 

sake alone that it was imputed to him, but for 
ours also, to whom it shall be imputed if we 
believe on him who raised up our Lord Jesus 
Christ from the dead ; who was delivered for 
our offences and raised again for our justifica- 
tion. Thus faith is imputed or reckoned for 
righteousness to every one that believeth. His 
faith is his righteousness, or he is justified by 
faith. 

In this method of justification we are taught 
that the death of Christ was a sacrifice for our 
sins, and available for all men ; for he is the 
propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, 
but for the sins of the whole world. There is 
an infinite efficacy in this atonement. Its merit 
is inexhaustible. The blood of Jesus Christ 
cleanses from all sin. 

This faith in Christ by which a sinner is 
justified is a working faith, and produces the 
righteousness of the law in all who have it. 
Faith working by love purifies the heart and 
leads to a sincere and humble obedience to God. 
Hence the righteousness of the law is fulfilled 
in them that believe, and they are fitted for the 
glory and blessedness of the kingdom of heaven. 
In short, all true believers in Jesus Christ are 
born of God, regenerated, sanctified, and shall 
be glorified. Hence he is a new creature ; old 
things have passed away, and all things are be- 



IIO ATHEISM AND THEISM. 

come new. He, then, that believeth shall be 
saved from sin, from its dominion and its con- 
sequences. But he that believeth not shall be 
condemned. He that believeth not is con- 
demned already, because he believeth not in 
the name of the only-begotten Son of God. 

Now, though all who die in Adam shall be 
made alive in Christ, yet every one shall be 
made alive in his own order, — in the order ap- 
propriate to his own conduct and relation in 
Christ. The order in the resurrection to life 
has respect to time and condition. The first 
resurrection is that of the just, of believers in 
Jesus Christ, who shall be made kings and 
priests unto God, and shall reign with Christ. 
Their reward is the glory and blessedness of 
the kingdom of God. They shall be the glori- 
fied rulers of the world to come, and all na- 
tions and people and languages shall serve 
them. They shall be one with Christ in his 
glory. 

But the unrighteous dead shall not be raised 
until after the thousand years of millennial rule 
over the nations shall have ended, and the little 
season of their trial shall have passed. Then 
death and hell shall deliver up the dead that 
are in them, and every one shall be punished 
for his sins and eventually subjected, and recon- 
ciled in that condition of subjection to the 



THE SCHEME OF REDEMPTION. 1 1 1 

righteous government of God, until every knee 
shall bow to Christ and every tongue shall 
confess that he is Lord to the glory of God the 
Father. 

Paul says that " in a great house there are not 
only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of 
wood and of earth : and some to honor and some 
to dishonor." So in the kingdom of Christ, those 
who in this life through faith and obedience 
purge themselves from all filthiness of flesh 
and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of the 
Lord, shall be vessels unto honor, afore pre- 
pared unto glory. The vessels unto dishonor 
are the unbelieving and disobedient, and all the 
wicked of the earth. The vessels unto honor 
will be the kings and priests of the kingdom ; 
the vessels unto dishonor will be the subjects 
over whom they shall reign. The wise shall 
inherit glory, but shame shall be the promotion 
of fools. 

The first man, Adam, had the dominion over 
the earth conferred upon him, but he forfeited it 
by his transgression, and the ground was cursed 
for man's sake by a change in its physical con- 
dition, so as to effect the execution of the death- 
penalty on man within the term of a thousand 
years, the day in which he must die. But 
during the antediluvian period it was demon- 
strated that a further change was necessary for 



112 ATHEISM AND THEISM. 

the good of man, and this was effected by the 
deluge, so as to shorten the term of human 
life, and teach man so to number his days as to 
apply his heart unto wisdom, and by making 
his days few and evil, dispose hjm to seek the 
kingdom of God and his righteousness. But 
the condition of the earth shall not be made 
any worse than it has been made by the effects 
of the deluge. The next change will be one 
of improvement; for the dominion of the world 
is given to Christ, the second man, and at his 
coming in the clouds of heaven he shall take 
possession of it and make all things new. And 
this is the third feature of the scheme : 

III. The provision for the renovation of all 
things and the recovery of the earth from the 
curse. When the dominion of the earth was 
forfeited by Adam, it was subjected to the provi- 
dential dispensation of angels under the Son of 
God, until the time shall come for the kingdom 
to be given to the saints of the Most High. 
And then the Lord Jesus shall come again in 
great power and glory, and all things shall be 
subdued to him. The curse shall be removed. 
The ground shall no more bring forth briers 
and thorns; but instead of the brier shall come 
up the fir-tree, and instead of the thorn shall 
come up the myrtle-tree, and it shall be to the 
Lord for a name, and for an everlasting sign 



THE SCHEME OF REDEMPTION. 113 

that shall not be cut off Then the wilderness 
shall be a fruitful field, and righteousness shall 
dwell in the fruitful field. Yea, the wilderness 
and the solitary place shall be glad for them, 
and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the 
rose. It shall blossom abundantly, and re- 
joice even with joy and singing. The glory 
of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excel- 
lency of Carmel and Sharon ; they shall see the 
glory of the Lord and the excellency of our God. 
This change is thus depicted by Cowper : 

iL O scenes surpassing fable, and yet true, 
Scenes of accomplished bliss, which who can see 
Though but in distant prospect and not feel 
His soul refreshed with foretaste of the joy? 
Rivers of gladness water all the earth, 
And clothe all climes with beauty : the reproach 
Of barrenness is past. The fruitful field 
Laughs with abundance, and the land, once lean, 
Or fertile only in its own disgrace, 
Exults to see its thistly curse repealed, 
The varied seasons woven into one, 
And that one season an eternal spring." 

Then the whole earth shall be a paradise of 
bliss, for all cause of sickness, pain, and death 
shall be removed. Disease will be unknown, 
and man shall flourish in everlasting youth, free 
from infirmity and decay. The saints of God, 
immortalized and glorified, shall have incor- 
ruptible bodies, and shall be equal to the angels 
h 10* 



114 ATHEISM AND THEISM. 

in spiritual nature, and higher than they in rank, 
being heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ in 
the dominion of the world. And all the rest of 
mankind, though in natural bodies, will be sus- 
tained in perpetual existence by appropriate 
means, and shall be governed in righteousness 
and peace. 

" Thus heavenward all things tend. For all were good 
At first, and all must be at length restored ; 
So God has greatly purposed, who should else 
In his dishonored works, himself endure 
Dishonor, and be wronged without redress." 

Cowper. 

Such is the scheme of redemption as revealed 
in the Bible, a scheme originating in the eternal 
mind, and designed to remedy the evil intro- 
duced into the world by man's abuse of his free- 
agency, and, through means adapted to the pur- 
pose, without coercing the human will, effect 
the reconciliation of all to God under one di- 
vine government,, administered by a chosen and 
qualified instrumentality. 

This glorious scheme shall be accomplished 
through the mediation of Christ, the Son of 
God, by whom he made all things, and who is 
the heir of all, and by his humiliation, obedience, 
sufferings, and death has made all doubly his. 
He will associate his saints with himself in the 
government of the world in the future ages, and 



THE SCHEME OF REDEMPTION. \ \ 5 

they shall reign with him forever. To call, re- 
deem, and qualify them for this glorious estate 
is the object of this and the previous dispensa- 
tions of grace, during which the elect church 
will be saved from sin and sanctified, that they 
may be also glorified, and constitute a suitable 
agency for the final subjection and reconciliation 
of all things to God. And when the purpose 
of God shall be fully effected, the consummation 
will display his infinite benevolence and recti- 
tude, his wisdom and his power, to the satisfac- 
tion of the universe of mind. And, first, to his 
ozvn satisfaction, for his counsel shall stand and 
he will do all his pleasure. Second, to the sat- 
isfaction of Christ, for " he shall see of the 
travail of his soul and shall be satisfied.'' Third, 
to the satisfaction of all the saints of God, for 
they shall be one with Christ as he is one with 
God, and shall be filled with all the fulness of 
God. Fourth, to the satisfaction of the angels 
of God, who kept their first estate, and are now 
employed to minister unto the heirs of salva- 
tion, for they will eventually comprehend and 
exult in the accomplishment of the Divine plan. 
And, last of all, to the satisfaction of every in- 
telligent being belonging to this earth, for at 
the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, and 
every tongue shall confess that he is Lord to 
the glory of God the Father. 



Il6 ATHEISM AND THEISM. 



PART VII. 

THE FINAL RESULT. 

The final result of the Scheme of Redemp- 
tion is as much the subject of Revelation as the 
scheme itself. It was not in the wisdom of man 
to devise the one or discover the other. But in 
making known the Divine plan and its fulfil- 
ment holy men of old spake as they were moved 
by the Spirit of Goo. And w r e may rest as- 
sured that there will be no failure in any part 
of the plan, but everything will be accomplished 
in its season and in accordance with the Divine 
foreknowledge and determination. We may be 
sure, also, that the result will redound to the 
glory of God in the complete vindication of his 
wisdom and goodness in every dispensation of 
his mercy and judgment. 

The scheme as presented in the previous 
chapter necessarily involved the result, which 
has, therefore, been anticipated to some extent ; 
but there is room for further exposition and 
discussion, especially in relation to the destiny 
of all intelligent beings beside and out of the 
Church. For here we are met with three op- 
posing dogmas, — first, that of eternal torment 



THE FINAL RESULT. \\J 

for all who are out of the Church, as incorpo- 
rated in all so-called orthodox creeds of Chris- 
tendom ; second, Universalism, which assumes 
that all mankind will be ultimately saved alike ; 
and, third, Annihilationism^which is the subter- 
fuge of all the weak-kneed advocates of everlast- 
ing punishment. These, though irreconcilably 
opposed to each other, are combined against the 
result of this Scriptural scheme. Hence the 
necessity of a more exhaustive examination of 
the subject in this connection. 

The new heaven and the new earth which 
John saw in vision symbolized the future state 
of this globe and its atmosphere in the resti- 
tution of all things. It was not another sphere 
coexistent with the present, but this in a differ- 
ent condition. It is a new adornment, a new 
kosmos or world, which shall succeed this present 
evil world. The heaven and earth that now are 
shall pass away, and the new heaven and earth 
shall succeed, as the present succeeded the 
heaven and earth which were before the deluge. 
Peter says we look for them according to God's 
promise (2 Pet. iii. 13), and that promise is in 
Isa. Ixv. 17-25, and shows that it is a new con- 
dition of this earth and its atmosphere, with new 
political and moral arrangements, tending to 
righteousness, peace, and joy among all people. 

It is not a state which is entered at or by 



Il8 ATHEISM AND THEISM. 

death, but succeeds the resurrection and trans- 
lation of the saints. In short, it is that state of 
things which shall be introduced at the coming 
of our Lord Jesus Christ, and will be effected 
by that " working whereby he is able even to 
subdue all things unto himself." It will be that 
state of things consequent upon the establish- 
ment of his glorious and everlasting kingdom 
upon earth, and the will of God shall be done 
on earth as it is done in heaven. 

"The holy city, new Jerusalem," which John 
saw " coming down from God out of heaven, 
prepared as a bride adorned for her husband," 
symbolizes the heavenly polity of that kingdom, 
consisting of the raised, changed, and glorified 
saints who shall be made unto God kings and 
priests, and shall reign on the earth. Hence 
one of the angels said to John, " Come hither ; 
I will shew thee the Bride, the Lamb's wife." 
And he carried him away in spirit to a great 
and high mountain, which symbolizes the king- 
dom of God to be established in the new heaven 
and earth, as we learn from Dan. ii. 35, 44, 45, 
and showed him a second time "that great city, 
the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven 
from God, having the glory of God; and her 
light was like unto a stone most precious, even 
like a jasper stone, clear as crystal." Now, we 
know that the Bride, the Lamb's wife, is the 



THE FINAL RESULT. 119 

Church, of which Paul says, that " the husband 
is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the 
Head of the Church and the Saviour of the 
body, and that he loved the Church and gave 
himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse 
it with the washing of water by the word ; that 
he might present it to himself a glorious Church, 
not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; 
but that it should be holy and without blemish. " 
Eph. v. 23-27. Therefore the holy city, new 
Jerusalem, symbolizes the Church of Christ, 
composed of all true believers of all the dispen- 
sations of grace, who by faith have washed their 
robes and made them white in his blood, and 
shall be associated with him in the administra- 
tion of the Divine government in that new 
heaven and new earth. Hence Christ says, 
" Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in 
the temple of my God, and he shall go no 
more out : and I will write upon him the name 
of my God, and the name of the city of my 
God, the new Jerusalem, which cometh down 
out of heaven from my God, and my new 
name " Rev. iii. 12. And again, " He that over- 
cometh, I will give to him to sit down with me 
in my throne, as I also overcame, and sat down 
with my Father in his throne." Rev. iii. 21. 
And these precious promises accord with his 
prayer to the Father for them ; " that they all 



120 ATHEISM AND THEISM. 

may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I 
in thee, that they also may be one in us : that 
the world may believe that thou hast sent me. 
And the glory which thou gavest me I have 
given them ; that they may be one, even as we 
are one : I in them, and thou in me, that they 
may be made perfect in one ; and that the world 
may know that thou hast sent me, and hast 
loved them, as thou hast loved me. Father, I 
will that they also, whom thou hast given me, 
be with me where I am ; that they may behold 
my glory, which thou hast given me : for thou 
lovedst me before the foundation of the world. " 
John xvii. 21-24. These scriptures, and others 
which might be added of the same import, set 
forth the condition of the saints as one of the 
highest exaltation and the brightest glory and 
the greatest power. Made partakers of the 
Divine nature by being transformed by the re- 
newing of their minds in knowledge, righteous- 
ness, and true holiness, and their bodies made 
like Christ's glorious body, immortal and in- 
corruptible, they will be the children of God, 
and heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ 
of the kingdom and dominion and the glory of 
the kingdom under the whole heaven. They 
will be complete in him who is the head of 
all principality and power, and pre-eminently 
qualified for the administration of the Divine 



THE FINAL RESULT. 121 

government committed to them ; for they will 
be perfect and complete in all the will of God. 
We cannot conceive of a state higher, holier, 
more glorious and blessed than this. And to 
this all the saints of God, and they only, shall 
attain through faith in Christ, and each in his 
full measure of reward according to his works. 
The great voice out of heaven, heard by 
John, symbolizes a proclamation from the 
throne of God in relation to the new measure 
of his administration then instituted, its design, 
and ultimate effect. It first calls attention to 
the polity of the kingdom as embodied in 
Christ and his glorified saints, — " Behold, the 
tabernacle of God is with men." It is the holy 
city, new Jerusalem, that is here called the tab- 
ernacle of God, and which we have shown to 
be a symbol of the raised, changed, and glori- 
fied saints, constituted kings and priests unto 
God, and appointed to reign on the earth. 
Paul refers to this in Phil. iii. 21, 22 : " For our 
polity (Gr. TioXtreufia) is in heaven, from whence 
also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus 
Christ, who shall change the body of our low 
estate conformable to the body of his glory, 
according to the working whereby he is able 
even to subdue all things unto himself." Christ, 
as the king, now embodies in himself in heaven 
the polity of the coming kingdom ; but when 



122 A THEISM AND THEISM. 

he shall come again, as we are taught to expect 
him, he will glorify his saints and associate them 
with himself in the government of the world. 
The same is indicated in the visions of Daniel, 
where Christ, whose goings forth have been 
from of old, even from everlasting, is symbol- 
ized by the Ancient of days, and the saints, 
who shall be made like him, are symbolized by 
one like the Son of man ; and it is shown that 
when Christ comes and sits on the throne of 
his glory, his saints will be with him, and take 
the kingdom and dominion and the greatness 
of the kingdom under the whole heaven. The 
first advent of Christ was designed to prepare 
the way for this, and though rulers and people 
then rejected him, the fiat shall go forth, " Be- 
hold, I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion." 
" For the Lord hath chosen Zion ; he hath de- 
sired it for his habitation. This is my rest for- 
ever ; here will I dwell ; for I have desired it." 
In this vision there is evidently an allusion to 
the tabernacle in the wilderness, in which God 
dwelt among the tribes of Israel ; for the twelve 
gates of the city bear the names of the twelve 
tribes in the order of their encampment, which 
also typified the Church. And the tabernacle 
was a type of Christ in his glorified humanity, 
for in him dwelt the fulness of the Godhead. 
And Christ calls his body a temple. Paul calls 



THE FINAL RESULT. 123 

all true believers temples of God, for God dwell- 
eth in them. So that when Christ and his saints 
descend from heaven and take the kingdom, it 
is said, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with 
men. 

The term men here is a generic term, and is 
put for all mankind beside the saints, who com- 
pose the tabernacle in which God dwells with 
men. It is used in this sense in Ps. lxviii. 18, 
u Thou hast ascended on high ; thou hast led 
captivity captive ; thou hast received gifts for 
men ; yea, for the rebellious also, that the Lord 
God might dwell among them," in which gifts 
for men means for all mankind ; and while the 
choicest gifts are for the obedient believers, there 
are gifts for the rebellious also, that the Lord 
God might dwell among them. Paul utters the 
same grand truth in different phraseology, I 
Tim. iv. 10, saying, " We trust in the living God, 
who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those 
that believe," which shows that there is salvation 
for all men, but a special salvation for believers. 
Hence he says that " God our Saviour will 
have all men to be saved and to come unto the 
knowledge of the truth. For there is One God, 
and one mediator between God and men, the 
man Christ Jesus ; who gave himself a ransom 
for all, to be testified in due time," I Tim. ii. 
3-6, or " a testimony to be borne in its own 



I 24 A THEISM AND THEISM. 

times." That is, in the times in which the ap- 
plication shall be made to all men, as distin- 
guished from its application to believers only. 
John expresses the same truth : " And if any 
man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, 
Jesus Christ the righteous. And he is the 
propitiation for our sins : and not for ours only, 
but for the sins of the whole world." 1 Jno. ii. I, 
2. This propitiation is available for our sins, — 
that is, the sins of believers now, during this 
dispensation in which he is our advocate with 
the Father, — but will not be available for the 
sins of the whole world till the time come for 
the whole world to be saved. It is also in 
reference to this that Paul says, " The Spirit 
itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we 
are the children of God : and if children, then 
heirs ; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ ; 
if so be that we suffer with him, that we may 
be also glorified together. For I reckon that 
the sufferings of this present time are not 
worthy to be compared with the glory which 
shall be revealed in us. For the earnest ex- 
pectation of the creature waiteth for the mani- 
festation of the sons of God. For the creature 
was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but 
by reason of him who hath subjected the same 
in hope, because the creature itself also shall 
be delivered from the bondage of corruption 



THE FINAL RESULT. 125 

into the liberty of the glory of the children of 
God. For we know that the whole creation 
groaneth and travaileth in pain together until 
now. And not only they, but ourselves also, 
which have the first fruits of the Spirit, even 
we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting 
for the adoption, — the redemption of our body." 
Rom. viii. 16-23. Here by the " whole crea- 
tion," or " the creature," is evidently intended 
the human race in general, as distinguished 
from " ourselves also which have the first fruits 
of the Spirit, — the witness that we are the 
children of God;" that is, from believers who 
are " begotten with the word of truth, that we 
should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures." 
Jas. i. 18. And the argument is that the whole 
human race shall be delivered from the bondage 
of corruption into the liberty of the glory of 
the children of God ; that is, a liberty resulting 
from, or to be conferred through, that glory. 
Hence the general yearning of humanity for a 
better condition " waits for the manifestation of 
the sons of God," and cannot be realized till 
then. The saints must be glorified and reign 
with Christ before deliverance from the bond- 
age of corruption can come to the rest of man- 
kind. It was not because God has pleasure in 
the affliction of his creature man that he was 
made subject of vanity, but because it was 



126 ATHEISM AND THEISM. 

necessary for the redemption of those who by 
faith become heirs of God and joint heirs with 
Christ, if so be that suffering with him in this 
life they may reign with him in the life to come, 
and be made a means of blessing to all. Hence 
the groaning and travailing in pain together of 
the " whole creation" or family of man is not 
in despair, but in hope. And deliverance will 
come, first, to the saints of God in their special 
salvation, and afterwards to the rest of mankind 
in their subjection and reconciliation to God 
under the reign of the saints. And so after the 
salvation of the Church is declared in Ps. xxii. 25, 
26, it is added, 27, 28 : " All the ends of the world 
shall remember and turn unto the Lord : and all 
the kindreds of the nations shall worship before 
thee. For the kingdom is the Lord's : and he 
is the governor among the nations." And Ps. 
lxvi. 3, 4, " Say unto God, How terrible art thou 
in thy works ! through the greatness of thy 
power shall thine enemies submit themselves 
unto thee. All the earth shall worship thee ; 
they shall sing to thy name." So David, the 
beloved, in Ps. xviii. 43, 44, speaking as the 
Church in union with Christ, says, propheti- 
cally, " Thou hast delivered me from the striv- 
ings of the people ; thou hast made me the 
head of the heathen : a people which I have not 
known shall serve me. As soon as they hear 



THE FINAL RESULT. \2J 

of me, they shall obey me : the strangers shall 
submit themselves unto me." 

"And he shall dwell with them, and they 
shall be his people; and God himself shall be 
with them and be their God." In that very 
place consecrated by his sufferings at his first 
advent, our glorious Lord, with his saints, shall 
dwell when he shall take the throne of David 
and reign over all the earth. " And the moon 
shall be confounded, ,and the sun ashamed, 
when the Lord of hosts shall reign in Mount 
Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients 
gloriously." Isa. xxiv. 23. " In Judah God is 
known ; his name is great in Israel. In Salem 
also is his tabernacle, and his dwelling-place in 
Zion." Ps. Ixxvi. I, 2. And so he will dwell 
first with the Jew, for " The Lord will save the 
tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house 
of David and the glory of the inhabitants of 
Jerusalem do not magnify themselves against 
Judah." Zech. xii. 7. The Jew is a term which 
in this connection embraces the whole house of 
Israel; and as in the proclamation of the gos- 
pel at the beginning of the Christian dispensa- 
tion it was to the Jew first, so in the future 
restitution of all things in the kingdom of 
Christ it will be to the Jew first. For after their 
nationality shall be restored, and the saints shall 
have been caught up to meet the Lord in the 



128 ATHEISM AND THEISM. 

air, and they, the Jews, shall be dwelling safely 
in all the land and on all the mountains of 
Israel in unwalled villages, there shall come 
against them as a storm the armies of Gog and 
all his confederate nations, and shall besiege 
Jerusalem and take it and give it up to rapine 
and unbridled lust; and then shall the Lord 
and all his saints with him appear for the de- 
struction of their enemies and the deliverance 
of the Jews. And he will set his glory among 
the heathen, and all the heathen shall see the 
judgment that he shall execute; and the house 
of Israel shall know that he is the Lord their 
God from that day and forward. And he will 
bring again the captivity of Jacob, and have 
mercy on the whole house of Israel. Neither 
will he hide his face any more from them. Ezek. 
xxxviii. and xxxix., and Zech. xiv. To this 
James referred when he said, u Simeon hath de- 
clared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles 
to take out of them a people for his name (which 
has been going on ever since). And to this 
agree the words of the prophets, as it is writ- 
ten, After this I will return, and will build again 
the tabernacle of David which is fallen down ; 
and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I 
will set it up; that the residue of men might 
seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon 
whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who 



THE FINAL RESULT. 1 29 

doth all these things." Here the people taken 
out of the Gentiles by the preaching of the 
gospel constitute the Gentile complement of the 
elect Church which shall be accomplished at 
the end of this dispensation ; the " residue of 
men" are all the house of Israel except the 
saved and glorified remnant; and " all the Gen- 
tiles" are all the rest of mankind except the 
saved and glorified complement ; or, in other 
words, the " residue of men" and " all the Gen- 
tiles" embrace all mankind except the Church 
of the first-born. And these shall all be saved 
by being subjected to the dominion of Christ 
and his saints and reconciled to God in that 
state of subjection. 

Paul says, " And so all Israel shall be saved," 
Rom. xi. 26, which is fully and explicitly pre- 
dicted by Ezekiel, xxxvi. 24-38. Thus, " For I 
will take you from among the heathen, and 
gather you out of all countries, and will bring 
you into your own land. Then will I sprinkle 
clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean : 
from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, 
will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give 
you, and a new spirit will I put within you : and 
I will take away the stony heart out of your 
flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And 
I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you 
to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my 



130 ATHEISM AND THEISM. 

judgments, and do them. And ye shall dwell 
in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye 
shall be my people, and I will be your God. I 
will also save you from all your uncleannesses ; 
and I will call for the corn, and will increase 
it, and lay no famine upon you. And I will 
multiply the fruit of the tree, and the increase 
of the field, that ye shall receive no more re- 
proach of famine among the heathen. Then 
shall ye remember your own evil ways, and 
your doings that were not good, and shall 
loathe yourselves in your own sight for your 
iniquities and for your abominations. Not for 
your sakes do I this, saith the Lord God, be it 
known unto you : be ashamed and confounded 
for your own ways, O house of Israel. Thus 
saith the Lord God; I will yet for this be in- 
quired of by the house of Israel, to do it for 
them; I will increase them with men like a 
flock. As the holy flock, as the flock of Jeru- 
salem in her solemn feasts ; so shall the waste 
cities be filled with flocks of men : and they 
shall know that I am the Lord." This predic- 
tion applies only to as many of Israel as shall be 
living on the earth when Christ comes and to 
their offspring during the Millennium ; but in the 
next chapter, by the vision of the valley of dry 
bones made to become an army of living men, 
the prophet was instructed that the dead of Is- 



THE FINAL RESULT 131 

rael shall also be saved. Ezek. xxxvii. 11-14: 
" Then he said unto me, Son of man, these 
bones are the whole house of Israel : behold, 
they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is 
lost: we are cut off for our parts. Therefore 
prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the 
Lord God : Behold, O my people, I will open 
your graves, and cause you to come up out of 
your graves, and bring you into the land of 
Israel. And ye shall know that I am the Lord, 
when I have opened your graves, O my people, 
and brought you up out of your graves, and 
shall put my Spirit in you, and ye shall live, 
and I shall place you in your own land: then 
shall ye know that I the Lord have spoken it, 
and performed it, saith the Lord." 

And then, further, by the sign of the two 
sticks made one in the hand of the prophet was 
symbolized the future union of the two king- 
doms of Judah and Israel in the kingdom of 
Christ. " And say unto them, Thus saith the 
Lord God : Behold, I will take the children of 
Israel from among the heathen, whither they be 
gone, and will gather them on every side, and 
bring them into their own land : and I will 
make them one nation in the land upon the 
mountains of Israel ; and one king shall be 
king to them all: and they shall be no more 
two nations, neither shall they be divided into 



I32 ATHEISM AND THEISM. 

two kingdoms any more at all : neither shall 
they defile themselves any more with their idols, 
nor with their detestable things, nor with any 
of their transgressions : but I will save them 
out of all their dwelling-places wherein they 
have sinned, and will cleanse them : so shall 
they be my people and I will be their God. My 
tabernacle also shall be with them : yea, I will 
be their God and they shall be my people." 
Ezek. xxxvii. 2 1-23, 28. I have not quoted all of 
this grand prophecy, but sufficient to show that 
it must have its fulfilment in the future after 
the coming of the Lord and his saints with him, 
and the tabernacle of David shall be rebuilt. 
And nothing can be plainer than the applica- 
tion of its several parts to all the house of Is- 
rael, the dead as well as the living, so that how- 
ever wicked any of them may have been, they 
will neither be annihilated nor suffer eternal 
torment ; though they will be punished for their 
sins ; for Paul says that God will render to every 
man according to his deeds, and unto them 
that are contentious and do not obey the truth, 
but obey unrighteousness, indignation and 
wrath, tribulation and anguish, upon every soul 
of man that doeth evil ; of the Jew first, and 
also of the Gentile. Rom. ii. 6-9. And this 
punishment will not only be retributive, but 
subjecting and continued until voluntary sub- 



THE FINAL RESULT 1 33 

mission to the Divine government is effected. 
And when they are subdued they will not and 
never can attain to the special salvation of be- 
lievers ; but in their everlasting exclusion there- 
from will have an everlasting punishment, though 
exempt from pain or torment. Yet they will 
loathe their former wickedness and be ashamed 
of their unbelief and disobedience, by which 
they rendered themselves unworthy of the spe- 
cial salvation. This, however, will only apply 
to those who during the dispensations of grace 
have had the offer of that salvation and lost it 
by unbelief and disobedience. Multitudes have 
died who never had that offer, and will not be 
so affected by exclusion from it. They will be 
of those of whom it is said, " As soon as they 
hear of me they will obey me." And as obe- 
dient subjects of the kingdom will at once ex- 
perience the pleasure of being in conformity 
with the laws of the kingdom. 

If there were no scriptures bearing on the 
condition of the Gentiles under the government 
of Christ and his saints, we would be justified 
in the conclusion that they would be subject to 
the same laws and be subjected and reconciled 
in like manner with the Jews, for James in 
eludes " all the Gentiles" with the u residue of 
men," that is, the Jews, in the beneficial effects 

of the re-establishment of David's throne by 

12 



134 ATHEISM AND THEISM. 

Jesus Christ at his coming. And they are 
unquestionably included in those general state- 
ments of the universality of the atonement by 
Christ which have already been quoted. But 
there are not wanting other and distinct enun- 
ciations of the bearing of the reign of Christ 
and his saints upon them and their consequent 
subjection and reconciliation to God. The 
promise to Abraham, " In thee and in thy seed 
shall all the families of the earth be blessed,'' 
has particular reference to the Gentiles ; for 
Abraham's seed embraces not only Christ and 
his saints, as Paul states it, " If ye be Christ's 
then are ye Abraham's seed and heirs according 
to the promise," but it embraces the natural 
seed or the Jew also ; and it follows that all 
the families of the earth must include all the 
Gentiles not included in the seed of faith, 
who are therefore to be blessed in Abraham 
and his seed in the future kingdom. So in 
Psalm ii. 8, " Ask of me and I will give thee 
the heathen for thine inheritance and the utter- 
most parts of the earth for thy possession," re- 
lates to the subjection of the Gentiles to Christ 
when his throne shall be set in Zion. Again, 
Ps. xlvii. 2, 3, " For the Lord most high is ter- 
rible ; he is a great king over all the earth. He 
shall subdue the people under us and the na- 
tions under our feet," which predicts the sub- 



THE FINAL RESULT. 135 

jection of the Gentiles to the saints in the king- 
dom of Christ. Again, Isa. ii. 2-4, " And it 
shall come to pass in the last days, that the 
mountain of the Lord's house shall be estab- 
lished in the top of the mountains, and shall be 
exalted above the hills, and all nations shall 
flow unto it. And many people shall go and 
say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain 
of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; 
and he will teach us of his ways, and we will 
walk in his paths : for out of Zion shall go forth 
the law, and the word of the Lord from Jeru- 
salem. And he shall judge among the nations, 
and shall rebuke many people ; and they shall 
beat their swords into ploughshares, and their 
spears into pruning-hooks ; nation shall not lift 
up sword against nation, neither shall they learn 
war any more." In Micah iv. 1-5, this proph- 
ecy is reiterated with the addition, " But they 
shall sit every man under his vine and under his 
fig-tree ; and none shall make them afraid : for 
the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it." This 
shows what will be the character and condition 
of the Gentile nations under the reign of Christ. 
In Dan. vii. it is predicted that the saints will 
possess the kingdom in connection with Christ, 
and that all people, nations, and languages shall 
serve them. And so in Rev. xxi. 24, it is said 
of the symbolic city that " the nations of them 



I36 ATHEISM AND THEISM. 

that are saved shall walk in the light of it, and 
the kings of trie earth do bring their glory and 
honor into it." The saved here evidently refers 
to the saints who compose the city and who are 
saved out of every kindred and tongue and 
people and nation, and the nations of these 
saved ones, therefore, must include all out of 
whom they were saved. Hence all of past 
ages who shall be eventually raised from the 
dead, and who, as walking in the light of the 
city, must be obedient subjects of their govern- 
ment, shall be blessed through their administra- 
tion. And so in Isa. xxv. 6-8, it is written, 
" And in this mountain shall the Lord of hosts 
make unto all people a feast of fat things, a 
feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of 
marrow, of wines on the lees well refined. And 
he will destroy in this mountain the face of the 
covering cast over all people and the veil that 
is spread over all nations. He will swallow up 
death in victory ; and the Lord God will wipe 
away tears from off all faces ; and the rebuke 
of his people shall he take away from all the 
face of the earth." Showing that eventually all 
people must be raised from the dead and made 
partakers of the benefits of the beneficent reign 
of Christ and his saints. 

In Ezek. xvi. the Lord charges Jerusalem 
with abominable wickedness beyond that of 



THE FINAL RESULT. 137 

Samaria and Sodom, in the abuse of greater 
mercies and privileges, and the violation of her 
covenant in prostituting herself to grosser idol- 
atry ; in consequence of which she has been 
cut off as Samaria and Sodom have been cut 
off; and yet declares that she shall be restored 
to her former estate, in Adamic life under law, 
by virtue of an everlasting covenant which he 
will then establish, and by which also Samaria 
and Sodom shall be restored to their former 
estate, and will be given to her as daughters in 
that covenant. And as the return of Sodom at 
least must be a return from death, so we infer 
that it is the restoration of the dead of Samaria 
and Jerusalem which is here spoken of. And 
we thus learn that the Gentile dead of which 
Sodom is a sample will be raised to a condition 
of Adamic life, and dealt with under the gov- 
ernment of Christ and his saints, as we have 
seen by Ezekiel's prophecy all Israel will be 
dealt with ; that is, shall be subjected and rec- 
onciled to God. Indeed, Jesus said, It will be 
more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah and 
for Tyre and Sidon in the judgment of that 
day than for some of Israel. Hence we con- 
clude that ultimately all the Gentiles and the 
residue of men, or all Israel shall be brought 
from the captivity of death, and in natural 
bodies like that of Adam, when created, shall 

12* 



I38 ATHEISM AND THEISM. 

be subjected to the government of Christ, and 
in that state of subjection reconciled to God, 
who will be pacified towards them for all that 
they have done. 

" And God shall wipe away all tears from 
their eyes; and there shall be no more death, 
neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be 
any more pain ; for the former things are passed 
away. And he that sat upon the throne said, 
Behold, I make all things new." Enoch's proph- 
ecy, Jude 14, 15, shows that when the Lord 
shall come with ten thousand of his saints, he 
will "execute judgment upon all, and convince 
all that are ungodly among them of all their 
ungodly deeds which they have ungodly com- 
mitted, and of all the hard things which un- 
godly sinners have spoken against him," which 
will produce pungent sorrow and bitter tears. 
And Zech. xii. 10, shows that God will pour 
upon the house of David and the inhabitants of 
Jerusalem (and if on them, on others also) the 
spirit of grace and of supplication ; and they shall 
look upon him whom they have pierced, and 
they shall mourn on account of him, as one 
mourneth for an only son ; and shall be in bit- 
terness on account of him, as one that is in 
bitterness for his first-born. When Esau, who 
had sold his birthright and would have inherited 
the blessing, was rejected, he cried with a great 



THE FINAL RESULT. 139 

and exceeding bitter cry : for he could not alter 
the mind of his father nor reverse the conse- 
quence of his own folly and profanity, though 
he obtained a different blessing from Jacob's by 
his father's favor. And so it will be with all 
who now sell the heavenly calling for this 
world. Their irreversible loss of the glory and 
blessedness of the kingdom will cause them 
great anguish of spirit and bitter tears; but 
they will through God's mercy obtain the bless- 
ing of being subjected to the kingdom of Christ, 
and therein reconciled to God, who will wipe 
away their tears through the ministerial grace 
of Christ and his saints. 

" And there shall be no more death." This 
carries us beyond the resurrection of the rest 
of the dead, and effectually disproves the theory 
of the annihilationists, which teaches that the 
wicked will die an endless death. That there 
will be no more death is founded on the actual 
redemption of all mankind from death by the 
second man, the Lord from heaven. If any 
one should not be raised from death, or having 
been raised should again die to live no more, 
then in that case the obedience of Christ 
would be abortive, and death would be perpet- 
ual. And so, then, either Christ did not give 
himself a ransom for all, or the ransom was not 
sufficient. Either of which would make God a 



I40 ATHEISM AND THEISM. 

liar, and therefore the theory must be rejected as 
false and blasphemous. There will be death as 
long as any die or remain dead, and only* when 
all the dead shall be raised to life, and all man- 
kind shall be secured in perpetual life, shall 
there be no more death. If Adam had not 
sinned his obedience would have secured per- 
petual life to all men. And that which Adam 
failed to secure shall be secured to all by the 
obedience of Christ. Hence we have hope 
toward God that there shall be a resurrection 
of the dead, both of the just and unjust. 

" Neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall 
there be any more pain." This carries us be- 
yond the time of indignation and wrath, tribu- 
lation and anguish, symbolized by the lake of 
fire, called the second death. That measure of 
severity which God will find necessary to em- 
ploy for the subjection of the wicked will have 
effected its purpose, and every knee shall bow 
to Christ, of those in heaven and those on 
earth, and those under the earth, and every 
tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord 
to the glory of God the Father. And there 
shall be no more curse, because there shall be 
no more sin. Every intelligent being belong- 
ing to this moral system, whether angelic or 
human, shall be saved from sin so as to be- 
come reconciled to God and obedient to the 



THE FINAL RESULT 141 

laws of the kingdom, and blessed in their condi- 
tion of subjection to Christ and his saints. 

And so this disproves the dogma of eternal 
torment; for if any one should be held in end- 
less torment it would invalidate the declaration 
that there shall be no more pain and no more 
curse. That dogma contradicts the word of 
God, which says that he is the Saviour of all 
men, specially of them that believe. It says 
God is not the savior of all men, but only of 
them that believe. It proclaims that sin and 
misery shall be an eternal blot on his gov- 
ernment which his mercy and power cannot 
remove. It avers, against God's truth, that 
God cannot or will not through Christ subdue 
and reconcile all things unto himself, and that 
the throne of iniquity shall be as eternal as 
the throne of God. It is therefore a lie and a 
blasphemy. 

But no more pain does not prove the dogma 
of Universalism " that there is to be but one 
final destiny for all the human family," or that 
" immortal, incorruptible or endless life of holi- 
ness and enjoyment, as the free and unpur- 
chased gift of God, will be conferred on all 
mankind in the resurrection." This would be 
to destroy all distinction between the righteous 
and the wicked, and totally subverts the king- 
dom of heaven by reducing it to a conglomera- 



142 ATHEISM AND THEISM. 

tion of happy immortals. It denies that God 
will reward the righteous and punish the wicked 
hereafter. It denies that the saints or believers 
only will be made partakers of a first resurrec- 
tion, immortal and incorruptible, and glorified 
with Christ as kings and priests unto God, 
and that all nations and people and kindreds 
shall serve and obey them. It says in effect 
that God is the Saviour of all men, and that 
there will be no special salvation for believers. 
It is contrary to the Scriptures, and therefore 
erroneous and subversive of the moral govern- 
ment of God. 

Against these three systems of man's inven- 
tion I adduce one more passage of the Word 
of God, Rev. v., which describes three classes 
of persons seen by the Apostle in vision around 
the throne of God. This vision is the prelude 
to the series of visions following, and presents 
the final result of Christ's mediation in their 
several conditions. There is, first, the four liv- 
ing ones and four and twenty elders who sym- 
bolize the saints, specially saved, as is indicated 
by their song, " And they sang a new song, 
saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and 
to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, 
and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood, out 
of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and 
nation; and hast made us unto our God kings 



THE FINAL RESULT. 143 

and priests : and we shall reign on the earth." 
Nothing could more accurately describe the 
church of the first-born, the bride of the Lamb, 
thus seen in immediate connection with him, 
and glorified with him as the future rulers of 
the earth. 

Next to them, and around the central throne, 
John heard the angels sing, and they said with 
a loud voice, "Worthy is the Lamb that was 
slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, 
and strength, and honor, and glory, and bless- 
ing." They could not sing the song of the 
saints, for they are not redeemed by the blood 
of Jesus, and shall not be kings and priests unto 
God, nor reign on the earth. They are holy 
and blessed beings who during the redemption 
of the saints are to them ministering spirits, and 
during their future reign they will be swift mes- 
sengers to execute their will, and will be com- 
panions in glory. 

A third circle outside the angelic hosts, em- 
bracing every creature which is in heaven and 
on the earth, and under the earth, and such as 
are in the sea, and all that are in them, John 
heard saying, " Blessing, and honor, and glory, 
and power be unto him that sitteth upon the 
throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever." 
They include all intelligent beings belonging 
to this moral system except the saints and holy 



144 ATHEISM AND THEISM. 

angels, and they have their song. It is not the 
song of the saints, for they could not sing that, 
having neither the spiritual relation nor glori- 
fied condition of the saints ; but it indicates a 
blessed condition. There is no travail of sor- 
row in it, nor wail of woe; no cry of pain in it. 
All tears have been wiped away from their eyes, 
and in their subjection to the righteous and be- 
neficent reign of Christ and his saints they find 
peace and joy. 

" For the former things are passed away. 
And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, 
I make all things new." "The former things" 
signify the deteriorated condition of the heav- 
ens and the earth which are now; that of the 
atmosphere and surface of the globe on which 
we live; with the political, social, moral, and 
ecclesiastical state of the world since the del- 
uge. When first created or reconstructed for 
man, the heaven with its solar light by day and 
moon and stars to illume the night, and the 
earth with its vegetable productions and living 
creatures, all put under the dominion of man, 
made in the image of God, were pronounced 
very good. Man was made only a little lower 
than the angels, and crowned with glory and 
honor. Dominion over all the earth was given 
to him, and all things were put under his feet; 
for he was capable of governing all, having 



THE FINAL RESULT. 145 

been created in knowledge, righteousness, and 
true holiness. And the morning stars sang to- 
gether and all the sons of God shouted for joy. 
But man who was in honor abode not therein, 
for he sinned and came short of the glory of 
God. It was possible for him to have stood by 
obeying the law; but, being free, as all moral 
agents must be, to choose for himself, he trans- 
gressed and fell. He thus involved himself and 
all his unborn posterity in the penalty of death, 
which would at once have been executed upon 
him and them in him by blotting him out of 
existence, had not God, who foresaw the exi- 
gency, provided a remedy by constituting his 
only-begotten Son, by whom he made all things, 
a second man, for the redemption of the first 
man and all his race. This redemption not only 
required that he should become incarnate and 
taste death for every man, which in the fulness 
of time he did, but it required that all man- 
kind should be placed under a severe discipline 
of trial and affliction, so that out of every kin- 
dred and nation and tongue and people he 
might redeem unto himself a peculiar people 
as a first fruits unto God : a people to be made 
like him and prepared to reign with him in the 
future government of the world. To put man 
in such a condition it became necessary to curse 
the ground for his sake and subject him to ex- 
g k 13 



I46 ATHEISM AND THEISM. 

haustive labor, travail, and pain, terminating in 
a modified death-penalty, returning the body to 
the dust from which it was taken and the spirit, 
conserved in life, to God who gave it. At the 
same time he made a revelation to man of his 
purpose, and instituted sacrifices to typify his 
sufferings and as an expression of faith for the 
justification of all believers. And so the work 
of redemption began. 

But in time the decline of faith and the gen- 
eral corruption of mankind demonstrated the 
necessity of what God had foreseen and deter- 
mined, the further deterioration of the condition 
of things for man's moral good and to affect the 
salvation of the elect number. And by a deluge 
the world that then was, being overflowed with 
water, perished, and the first heavens and earth 
passed "away, giving place to the heavens and 
earth which now are, and which must continue 
until the redemption of the elect shall be com- 
pleted, for God said that he would not again 
curse the ground any more for man's sake. He 
would not make man's condition any worse than 
it would become under the operation of causes 
introduced by the deluge. The discipline would 
be severe enough, and will in time effect the 
designed end. And then the present condition 
of things will be terminated and give place to 
a better. Until then he endures the groaning 



THE FINAL RESULT 147 

misery and painful travail of his creatures, who 
are made subject to vanity in the hope of de- 
liverance. Until then, the saints of ages past, 
having obtained a good report through faith, 
receive not the promises, God having provided 
some better thing for us than what in spirit they 
now enjoy, that they without us should not be 
made perfect. Until then, whether on earth 
living in flesh,, or in the unseen state quickened 
in spirit, all the saints wait for the adoption, the 
redemption of the body. u For we wait for his 
Son from heaven whom he raised from the dead, 
even Jesus, which delivereth us from the wrath 
to come," and u who shall change the body of 
our low estate conformable to the body of his 
glory." Until then the earnest expectation of 
the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the 
sons of God. Until then the times of restitu- 
tion of all things spoken of by all the prophets 
will not begin. But then, under the adminis- 
tration of Christ and his glorified saints, will 
be commenced the subjection and reconcilia- 
tion of all sinful intelligences to God, and a 
corresponding change in the condition of the 
earth and heavens until the former things shall 
have passed away and all things shall be made 
new. 

How long it may require to complete this 
change w r e do not certainly know; but if it 



I48 ATHEISM AND THEISM, 

should be as long as it has taken to save the 
first fruits of God's creatures, it will not be on 
account of any inefficiency in the means em- 
ployed, nor because God has any pleasure in 
prolonging man's sin and misery, but because 
of the perverseness and obstinacy of man, who, 
though he may be forced to subjection, cannot 
be forced to reconciliation. This must be vol- 
untary, and accomplished by moral suasion. 
And because voluntary it may require a long 
time. Ages may be needed for its completion. 
But however long it may be, the long-suffering 
patience of God will not be exhausted, nor will 
the means prove abortive : for he says, " Look 
unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the 
earth : for I am God, and there is none else. I 
have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of 
my mouth in righteousness, and shall not re- 
turn. That unto me every knee shall bow, every 
tongue shall swear." Isa. xlv. 22, 23. And so 
" the mystery of his will, according to his good 
pleasure, which he hath purposed in himself: 
that in the dispensation of the fulness of times 
he might gather together under one head all 
things in Christ, both which are in heaven, 
and which are on earth; even in him," Eph. i. 
9, 10, shall be effected according to his fore- 
knowledge and determination. Hence it is 
written, " All nations whom thou hast made 



THE FINAL RESULT. 149 

shall come and worship before thee, O Lord ; 
and shall glorify thy name." Ps. lxxxvi. 9. 

The " former things" which shall then have 
passed away include all worldly governments, 
empires, kingdoms, and states. This is shown by 
Nebuchadnezzar's dream of the great metallic 
image, which symbolized by its composition of 
gold and silver and brass and iron and clay a 
succession of empires and kingdoms from the 
days of that king, w T ho was its golden head, 
down to the present divided and weakened 
condition of those kingdoms. And as the 
image in this condition was smitten on the 
feet by a stone cut out of the mountain with- 
out hands, and broken in pieces and ground to 
pow r der and carried away by the wind, so all 
these kingdoms shall be destroyed by the com- 
ing kingdom of Christ, and shall pass away 
and be no more. Dan. ii. 1-29. The same is 
shown by Daniel's vision of four great beasts, 
which symbolize the same succession of empires 
which shall pass away when the Ancient of 
Days shall come, and the saints of the Most 
High shall take the kingdom and possess it for- 
ever. Dan. vii. 1-27. In the Apocalypse a great 
red dragon with seven heads and ten horns, a 
wild beast from the sea with seven heads and ten 
horns, and a scarlet-colored beast with seven 
heads and ten horns, are the chosen symbols 

13* 



150 ATHEISM AND THEISM. 

of worldly empires and kingdoms from Nimrod 
down to the coming of Christ with his saints. 
These three monsters symbolize the same suc- 
cessive empires, though in different periods of 
their course; and from the fourth head down 
to the end are identical with the visions of 
Nebuchadnezzar and Daniel, and come to the 
same end. The empires and kingdoms they 
represent are overcome by the King of kings 
and Lord of lords, and they all pass away. 

But the kindreds, tongues, people, and nations 
which composed these empires, kingdoms, and 
states do not pass away. The latest generations 
of them living on the earth when Christ and 
his saints shall come will be judged, according 
to Joel iii. I, 2, II, 12, 16, iy : " For, behold, in 
those days, and in that time, when I shall bring 
again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, I 
will also gather all nations, and will bring them 
down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will 
plead with them there for my people and for 
my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered 
among the nations, and parted my land. As- 
semble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, 
and gather yourselves together round about : 
thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, 
O Lord. Let the heathen be wakened, and 
come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat : for 
there will I sit to judge all the heathen .round 



THE FINAL RESULT. 15 I 



about. The Lord also shall roar out of Zion, 
and utter his voice from Jerusalem ; and the 
heavens and the earth shall shake : but the 
Lord will be the hope of his people, and the 
strength of the children of Israel. So shall ye 
know that I am the Lord your God, dwelling 
in Zion my holy mountain : then shall Jerusalem 
be holy, and there shall no stranger pass 
through her any more." And Zechariah, after 
describing the same gathering of the nations 
against Jerusalem, says, " And the Lord my 
God shall come, and all the saints with thee. 
And the Lord shall be King over all the earth : 
in that day there shall be one Lord, and his 
name one. And it shall come to pass that 
every one that is left of all the nations which 
came against Jerusalem, shall even go up from 
year to year to worship the King, the Lord of 
hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles." 
Zech. xiv. 5, 9, 16. Ezekiel, also, after pre- 
dicting the same gathering and judgment of 
the nations, thus sums up the results: " And 
I will set my glory among the heathen, and all 
the heathen shall see my judgment that I have 
executed, and my hand that I laid upon them. 
So the house of Israel shall know that I am 
the Lord their God from that day and for- 
ward." Ezek. xxxix. 21, 22. And Jesus also, in 
Matt. xxv. 31-46, describes the same gathering 



152 ATHEISM AND THEISM. 

of the nations : for it is to be when the Son of 
man shall come in his glory; and there is to 
be but the one coming in his glory, and the 
one gathering of the nations at his coming. 
And he then designates the Jews or Israel as 
his brethren, and judges the nations who shall 
be gathered against them on account of their 
conduct toward them during the dispensation 
of his coming; approving those who had, and 
condemning those who had not given them aid 
and succor. And the latter shall go away into 
everlasting, atwvwv, age-lasting, punishment, — 
that is, they shall be punished with everlasting 
destruction from the presence of the Lord and 
the glory of his power, during the whole period 
of the Millennium; and the former shall enter 
into everlasting or age-lasting life, — that is, shall 
live as subjects of the kingdom during that 
period. They shall inherit the blessings, both 
temporal and spiritual, of that reign of righteous- 
ness and peace in which all the nations shall be 
blessed in Abraham's seed. 

The former generations of the kindreds and 
tongues and people and nations which com- 
posed those empires, kingdoms, and states, 
having died or been cut off from the earth, 
will be in death and hell, and shall not be 
raised with the saints. But I doubt not that all 
who shall have died in infancy, and those whose 



THE FINAL RESULT. 153 

condition and circumstances did not admit of 
a fair trial under the several dispensations of 
grace, will be raised from the dead during the 
Millennium in natural bodies and have a trial 
of their obedience under the laws of the king- 
dom. And when at the end of the Millennium 
Satan shall be loosed and go forth to deceive 
the nations, they with all other subjects of the 
kingdom will have their allegiance to Christ 
tested, and those who shall combine in a rebel- 
lious conspiracy and go up against the camp of 
the saints, the beloved city, shall be destroyed 
by fire from heaven, thus turning their bodies 
to ashes and their spirits into hades, until death 
and hell shall give up the dead that are in them. 
And then the wicked of all former ages who 
live not again until the thousand years are 
ended, and all who shall be cut off during the 
Millennium, shall be raised in natural bodies, 
liable to suffering, and shall be judged and pun- 
ished under the dominion of Christ and his 
saints until they shall willingly be reconciled to 
God in that state of subjection. And thence- 
forth there shall be no more sorrow nor crying 
nor pain nor death ; for the former things, in- 
cluding all misrule and oppression and sin, shall 
have passed away and all things shall be made 
new. There will be new heavens and new 
earth and a new administration of the divine 



154 ATHEISM AND THEISM. 

government by Jesus Christ and his glorified 
saints. There will be new laws, and the sub- 
jects will be newly constituted in the original 
Adamic nature lost by Adam's transgression 
and restored by Christ's obedience. And, 
dealing with them as with Israel, the Lord will 
give them a new heart and put a new spirit 
within them. And they shall obey his laws 
and be blessed for evermore. 

" And he said unto me, Write, for these words 
are true and faithful." They convey to us the 
knowledge of the divine purposes which are in 
accordance with his foreknowledge, and shall 
come to pass without fail. They were written 
for our instruction, that we, through patience 
and comfort of the Scriptures, might have hope. 



OBJECTIONS ANTICIPATED. 155 



PART VIII. 

OBJECTIONS ANTICIPATED. 

It is scarcely possible that any true Christian 
would object to the scheme of redemption as 
presented in this treatise on account of its na- 
ture and results. The objections, if any should 
be offered, would probably arise from an im- 
pression that in the result respecting the wicked 
there is a departure from the generally supposed 
teaching of the word of God. It is assumed 
by some that the eternal torment of the wicked 
is a doctrine of revelation based on another as- 
sumption, that their character becomes so fixed 
in evil as to be unchangeable, though they 
should be ever so desirous of a change and 
God ever so willing to save them if they re- 
pent. The hypothesis involves a fatalism which 
binds in its inflexible chain both God and man, 
and renders them powerless to remedy the evil. 
It supposes that a crisis is reached by every 
man, either before or at his death, when by his 
own act he crystallizes his mind in truth or 
falsehood, good or evil, beyond the possibility 



156 ATHEISM AND THEISM 

of change, and necessitates the endless torment 
of the wicked and the endless happiness of the 
righteous. Or it is otherwise assumed that God 
has from eternity determined the character and 
condition of all men ; and while he is pleased 
for his own glory to elect some to eternal salva- 
tion with all the means thereto, he has predesti- 
nated the rest to eternal damnation with all the 
means thereto ; that he works as effectually in 
the latter unto damnation as he does in the 
former unto salvation. The latter are made 
vessels of wrath, the former vessels of mercy. 
But whether consequent upon God's arbitrary 
decree or the operation of his moral govern- 
ment, the results are the same : eternal blessed- 
ness for a part of his intelligent offspring and 
eternal torment for the rest. And these results 
are supposed to be unmistakably taught in the 
Bible. Hence the objections to be met and ob- 
viated are honestly founded on the supposed 
meaning of Scripture words and phrases. And 
the question comes up, Whether these words 
and phrases admit of a rendering or an inter- 
pretation in accordance with the scheme of re- 
demption herein set forth and claimed to be 
purely scriptural ? I certainly think they can, 
for God cannot contradict himself or falsify his 
word; therefore all Scripture* given by inspira- 
tion of God must harmonize in doctrine, as well 



OBJECTIONS ANTICIPATED. 157 

as accord with his infinite benevolence and rec- 
titude. And, therefore, particular words and 
phrases must be interpreted agreeably to their 
scriptural use and the general tenor of the 
whole, thus comparing spiritual things — things 
taught by the Spirit — with spiritual things. 

The objections here presented and answered 
are not generally such as I would have antici- 
pated, but such as have actually been made in 
private correspondence, and are here given ver- 
batim, with my replies as far as deemed neces- 
sary, without material alteration. To avoid 
needless repetition I employ the conversational 
style and arrange the items of the correspond- 
ence to suit. 

First, I introduce some objections made to 
the scheme or system itself by a very dear friend 
and brother in the ministry, whom I designate 
by the letter A, and employ the letter I for 
myself. 

A. Your system seems to be eclectic, and so 
far I like it. It has appeared probable that the 
theological schemes are all partly right, partly 
wrong, and that the truth is among them. But 
it would be as difficult perhaps to select the 
truth from each and make the true compound 
as it has been for the several parties to perfect 
the several systems. . . . Among good men 
theological discussions are of service w T hen 

14 



I58 A THEISM A ND THEISM. 

properly conducted. They usually occasion ill 
feeling and sharpshooting at each other, rather 
than good feeling and sharpshooting at error, 
the common foe. There is a wonderful mass 
of theological writing extant, and I hope some 
good has resulted ; but nothing can take the 
place of the book; and Christian people will 
read it for themselves and make up their own 
minds in the case. 

1. You think my system eclectic. It may 
seem so ; but I have not compounded it of se- 
lections from the various theological creeds. I 
have had no reference to the creeds. I have 
taken the Bible alone, and formed my scheme, 
if I may call it mine, from what appeared to 
me to be taught in it. It is not improbable, 
however, that it may embrace to some extent 
the peculiarities of other systems, for they all 
profess to be derived from the Scriptures, though 
I think much tinctured with the Platonic philos- 
ophy and other human opinions. But the Scrip- 
tures which seem so discordant in these several 
theories, are all harmonious in their proper con- 
nection. The Bible is the book, and we should 
search it diligently and prayerfully to find the 
truth. 

A. I do not see how any one, saved and 
happy in heaven, would regret the amelioration 
of the condition of the lost. The only point 



OBJECTIONS ANTICIPATED. 159 

with me is, What do the Scriptures teach ? 
Eternal punishment, I think. So do you ; but 
your eternal punishment is a queer thing. It is 
eternal salvation in fact, only the degree is less. 
One star differeth from another star in glory. 
All in glory, but some punished with an eternally 
inferior degree. Not the nobility, not the citi- 
zens, but the canaille, the menials. Some good 
man, in a hymn, I think, aspires to the meanest 
place in heaven, thinking it far too good for 
him. As for me, it overtops my ambition alto- 
gether. I feel so worthless that I would gladly 
accept the lowest degree. 

I. Your statement in regard to the punish- 
ment of the wicked on my scheme is a misap- 
prehension. Let me assist you to discriminate. 
Punishment is not salvation, either in theory or 
in fact, though it may be a means of salvation 
in some connections, perhaps in all. Lam. iii. 
31-33; Heb. xii. 10. The salvation of those 
who die in unbelief is altogether of a different 
kind as well as of an inferior degree from that 
of the saints, and will consist in their being 
raised from the dead in natural bodies like that 
of the first Adam when he was created, and 
their being finally reconciled to God in a state 
of subjection to the government of the saints. 
Their punishment will consist in a righteous 
recompense for their sins,— indignation and 



l6o ATHEISM AND THEISM. 

wrath, tribulation and anguish,— until subdued 
and reconciled, and their everlasting exclusion, 
on account of their unbelief and rejection of 
Christ, from the least degree of the glory and 
blessedness of the saints. Thus you see their 
punishment differs from their salvation, though 
they coexist. 

The good man whose hymn you referred to 
aspired rather to be a doorkeeper in the house 
of God in this life than to dwell in palaces of 
wickedness, and would doubtless prefer the low- 
est degree of the glory and blessedness of the 
saints than the highest degree of the salvation of 
those who shall be everlastingly excluded there- 
from. Hence in one of his lyrics he says, — 

" Fair guardian, bear me up in haste, 
And seat me near my God." — Watts. 

Thus showing that he aspired to something 
higher in the future life than to be a menial in 
the house of God. I hope you will not allow 
such a portion to overtop your ambition. In- 
deed, I am sure that you could not endure the 
thought of exclusion from the salvation of the 
saints, or that you should have your portion 
with the condemned hereafter. I think it by 
no means inconsistent with true Christian hu- 
mility to aspire after the highest degree of 
glory and blessedness God has promised to the 



OBJECTIONS ANTICIPATED, i6l 

saints. Paul desired to apprehend that for 
which he was apprehended of Christ, and for- 
getting things behind pressed forward to things 
before with a laudable ambition to reach the 
mark and attain the prize of his high calling. 
And we have a legitimate right to aspire after 
whatever God has promised, nor are we as am- 
bitious as we should be if we do not. 

A. It is a pleasant thought to me that the 
judge of all the earth will do right. And I 
suppose it never will be right to violate the 
revelation that he is love. His love influenced 
him to give his Son to die for us, and in the 
precious blood of his Son I put my trust. Poor 
miserable sinner that I am, it encourages me 
to believe in that atoning Lamb. It drives 
away my fears, sustains me in the dreary 
hour. 

I. I doubt not that the infinite benevolence 
and rectitude of God will be fully vindicated 
in the future administration of Christ and his 
saints. And I think that not only will the 
saved and glorified saints not regret the ameli- 
oration of the condition of the lost, but will find 
much of their enjoyment in conducing to that 
amelioration by their righteous administration 
of the Divine government over them. To bless 
others is to be doubly blessed ourselves. And 
in the saints, as one with Christ and Abraham's 
/ 14* 



1 62 ATHEISM AND THEISM. 

spiritual seed, shall all the families of the earth 
be blessed. 

A. I am too stupid to understand your dis- 
tinct and coexistent salvation and punishment 
of the wicked. They are punished forever and 
saved forever. They are saved from the pangs 
of hell and punished with the loving kindness 
of the saints, their masters in heaven. 

I. In relation to my views of the future con- 
dition of mankind I am desirous of being un- 
derstood. I will try and be more explicit. 
Paul, in I Tim. iv. 10, says that the living God 
is the Saviour of all men, specially of them that 
believe. All men shall be saved ; but the sal- 
vation of believers will be special in its char- 
acter, exceeding that of the rest of mankind. It 
is peculiar in its nature. Believers in Christ 
are justified or acquitted from all their personal 
$ins through faith in Christ and reconciled to 
God through the death of his Son. They are 
regenerated and sanctified by the Holy Spirit 
through the truth, and shall have part in the 
first resurrection. They shall not be hurt of 
the second death ; because, being forgiven, they 
shall not hereafter be punished for their sins. 
They shall be glorified with Christ, made kings 
and priests unto God, and shall reign with 
Christ in his kingdom forever. Unbelievers are 
not so saved, not in this manner, nor in this 



OBJECTIONS ANTICIPATED. 1 63 

kind. They are not justified by faith. They 
are not regenerated and sanctified through the 
truth of the gospel. They are not reconciled to 
God on the gospel plan. They shall not have 
part in the first resurrection ; they shall be hurt 
of the second death. They shall not be glori- 
fied with Christ. They shall not be kings and 
priests unto God, and shall not reign with Christ 
in his kingdom. Unbelievers do not now re- 
ceive and never can hereafter obtain any of the 
benefits of believing the gospel. They are ad- 
judged to be unworthy of them. They are 
condemned for their unbelief, and shall be for- 
ever excluded from the great salvation. But 
God has not relinquished his right to them as 
his creatures. And he will in the future vindi- 
cate his right by punishing them for their sins 
and subjecting them to his righteous govern- 
ment. The object of that punishment and other 
measures of the divine government will be not 
only to requite them for their sins and convince 
them that they cannot escape a just retribution 
for their wicked works, but to bring them to 
submit to the dominion of Christ and his saints, 
that they may become reconciled to God and 
obedient subjects of the kingdom. And this 
will be effected during the period symbolized by 
the seven vials or bowls, for in them is finished, 
made an end of the wrath of God. Wrath, as 



164 ATHEISM AND THEISM. 

mercy's mean, shall then have accomplished its 
purpose, and all pain and torment shall cease, 
but their condition of subjection will be eter- 
nal. If not so, there would be no need of 
reconciling them to it. 

Now, then, as you say, " They are punished 
forever," inasmuch as their state of subjection 
is one to which they will be condemned on ac- 
count of their unbelief; and " they are saved 
forever," inasmuch as they will be raised from 
the dead and perpetually sustained in life by 
appropriate and sufficient means, and will after 
submission and reconciliation be made as happy 
as the nature and circumstances of their condi- 
tion will admit.* 

* The idea of a coexistent punishment and salvation is ap- 
plicable to the saints also until their salvation shall be com- 
pleted. On repenting of sin and believing in Christ they are 
pardoned, justified, and adopted into the family of God, and 
are so far saved. They are saved from sin, but they are no( 
saved from all the punishment of sin; as it is written, Heb. 
xii. 5, 6, " My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Al- 
mighty, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him ; for whom 
the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every one whom 
he receiveth." And again, Rev. iii. 19, "As many as I love 
I rebuke and chasten." See Ps. Ixxxix. 30-33, which shows 
that God will punish that he may save. Salutary punishment 
is a part of God's great and wise plan for the redemption of a 
sinful world. Lam. iii. 31-33. " For the Lord will not cast 
off forever : but though he cause grief, yet will he have com- 
passion according to the multitude of his mercies. For he 
doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men." 



OBJECTIONS ANTICIPATED. 165 

" They are saved from the pangs of hell." 
Yes, they will be saved from both death and 
hell when they shall be raised from the dead, as 
they certainly will be. But they will not be saved 
from the punishment of tfieir sins, the second 
death, though they shall be saved out of it when 
their reconciliation shall have been effected. 

" And punished with the loving-kindness of 
the saints." No, they are punished by subjec- 
tion to a condition of dishonor from which even 
the loving-kindness of the saints cannot save 
them ; from which there will be no redemption ; 
though the loving-kindness of the saints may 
tend to make their condition as agreeable as 
possible. 

A. I thought you anti-slavery : not an ultra, 
but an anti. They will be " in a state of sub- 
jection to the government of the saints." The 
saints are to find much of their enjoyment in 
making their administration agreeable to the 
lost, saved ones. The saints are never to lose 
caste ', and the others never to gain caste ; the 
former the governors, the latter the governed: 
Everlasting slavery! 

I. True, the saints will never lose caste ; that 
is, they will never lose the honors and glory be- 
stowed upon them ; and the others will never 
gain them. There will be an everlasting dis- 
tinction between the glorified and the unglori- 



l66 ATHEISM AND THEISM. 

fied. The saints will be the rulers ; the others 
will be under their government. The saints 
shall possess the kingdom, and all the rest of 
mankind will be subjects. Nothing is more 
clearly revealed than that. 

I certainly am anti-slavery, but I am not an- 
tinomian. I am not against just and righteous 
government. My idea of slavery differs from 
yours. The sum and substance of slavery is 
property in man by man, making chattels of 
human beings. There is no slavery in a state 
of subjection to righteous government. The 
citizens of the United States are not slaves be- 
cause they are governed. Much less will the 
subjects of God's heavenly kingdom be slaves 
because they shall be governed. People may 
be subjects and not slaves. People may be 
servants and not slaves. A man maybe ex- 
cluded from eligibility to office in the govern- 
ment and not be a slave. Such a one might be 
constrained to obey righteous laws and not be 
a slave. But suppose it would be slavery to put 
all intelligent beings in- subjection to God's ap- 
pointed rulers. Would not that be better than 
everlasting torment in the orthodox hell ? 

A. The greatest puzzle about all this is that 
the wicked are to be punished with indignation 
and wrath, tribulation and anguish, until they 
become reconciled, and then punished with the 



OBJECTIONS ANTICIPATED. 167 

loss of governmental honors eternally. To me 
it is very clear that the highest condition of 
morals is reconciliation to God; that it is the 
highest happiness of which we are capable, and 
that we are incapable of punishment as to men- 
tal suffering in that condition. Do you under- 
stand me ? " Be ye reconciled to God" is the 
plan of salvation. That is the state of mind 
which is salvation. Reconciliation and salva- 
tion are identical. No robes or crowns or 
thrones or administrations in heaven or any- 
where else is salvation. Salvation in its very 
essence, in its substance, in its blessedness is 
reconciliation to God. When that begins in 
the soul, salvation begins ; while it endures, sal- 
vation endures. 

I. True ; reconciliation to God on the gospel 
plan, by faith in Christ, is the highest condi- 
tion of morals ; for faith working by love puri- 
fies the heart. And it qualifies us for the high- 
est happiness ; but it does not render us inca- 
pable of mental or physical suffering in this 
life. Believers often suffer both in mind and 
body. Many are the afflictions of the right- 
eous. But their sufferings are disciplinary and 
for their good. In the future life they will be 
incapable of any suffering, for their bodies will 
be immortal and incorruptible, and they shall 
know even as they are known. 



1 68 ATHEISM AND THEISM. 

We agree that reconciliation is the plan of 
salvation, for God is in Christ reconciling the 
world unto himself, not imputing unto them 
their trespasses. This is effected by the minis- 
try of reconciliation and in all them that be- 
lieve. It is the reconciliation of the special 
salvation, and is effected in believers only. But 
even on this plan reconciliation and salvation 
are not identical. Paul says, " For if, when we 
were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the 
death of his Son; much more, being reconciled, 
we shall be saved by his life. ,, The distinction 
is evident. We are reconciled, therefore we 
shall be saved. Reconciliation is effected now, 
salvation hereafter. God has reconciled us ; he 
will therefore save us. We are reconciled by 
the death of Christ ; we shall be saved by the 
life of Christ. Peter speaks of salvation as an 
end we now look for, and which will be re- 
vealed in the last times. In a limited sense 
salvation is used to designate certain stages of 
our redemption, as salvation from sin ; but its 
full signification relates to the future condition 
of glory and blessedness promised to the saints. 
Reconciliation through faith in Christ's suffer- 
ings is necessary to salvation. Robes, crowns, 
and thrones would not be salvation without 
reconciliation ; neither would the salvation of 
the saints be perfect without the robes, crowns, 



OBJECTIONS ANTICIPATED. 169 

and thrones, etc. Reconciliation insures salva- 
tion, and they are inseparable. 

But we must not confound the reconciliation 
of the saints now with the reconciliation of all 
men hereafter. They are altogether different. 
They are not effected by the same means, nor 
attended with the same influence, nor do they 
lead to the same results. The reconciliation of 
the saints is effected through faith in the suffer- 
ings of Christ in this life ; is attended with 
justification, regeneration, and sanctification on 
the plane of the gospel, and shall result in their 
being glorified with Christ and made kings 
and priests in his everlasting kingdom. The 
reconciliation of the others shall be effected 
through the manifestation of Christ and his 
saints in power and glory hereafter; will be at- 
tended with release from torment and pain, and 
result in their bowing the knee to Christ in 
confession of his Lordship, and becoming obe- 
dient subjects of his kingdom. 

Second. The next objector is a Presbyterian 
divine, whom I shall designate by the letter E. 

E. You have shown, indeed, that your doc- 
trine is not Universalism in the strict technical 
or theological or ecclesiastical meaning of that 
term, but your readers will be very apt to regard 
it as a kind of Universalism, or even a peculiar 
form of Universalism, as that error is commonly 
h 15 



170 ATHEISM AND THEISM. 

understood. It holds, indeed, to a future pun- 
ishment, and to the eternal duration of that pun- 
ishment; but then the punishment itself would 
be regarded, I am afraid, by the great mass of 
wicked men as very little more than no punish- 
ment at all ; and hence in effect it differs little 
from Universalism. 

I. What is Universalism? Words mean some- 
thing. Universalism means something. It has 
a definite meaning, — the same under every kind 
and form. It is, " That all mankind shall be 
saved, and exalted to the same moral, physical, 
intellectual, and social condition/' All forms 
and kinds of Universalism teach this. Their 
variations have respect to the means and ways, 
not the end. They all meet at last upon this 
common ground. My doctrine is as sternly and 
irreconcilably opposed thereto as your own. I 
think I am justified in saying that it is more so; 
that it is farther removed from it than yours is. 
I hold that none are saved by the gospel, and 
to the glory and blessedness promised in the 
gospel, but believers; you hold, if I mistake 
not, that " elect infants, dying in infancy, are 
regenerated and saved by Christ through the 
Spirit, who worketh when and where and how 
he pleaseth," and "that other elect persons who 
are incapable of being outwardly called by the 
ministry of the word, are in like manner regen- 



OBJECTIONS ANTICIPATED. \J\ 

erated and saved." Now, here are two classes 
of persons who, according to your creed, are 
saved on the principles held by the Universal- 
ists ; arbitrarily saved without being outwardly 
called ; regenerated without the means ; regen- 
erated without faith ; saved without faith. On 
this principle God can make all free agents 
holy by his power, and there was no need of 
trial and discipline, no need of the gospel and 
faith. It all depends on the will of God. Now, 
if I believed that, I should become a Universal- 
ist ; for I am persuaded that if God could make 
all free agents holy by the exercise of his power, 
he would do it. This is the principle on which 
Universalists believe that all will be saved; and 
they are consistent in so believing. You are in- 
consistent in believing that God can do it and 
will not. But because you are wrong it does 
not follow that I am right; only the charge of 
Universalism against my doctrine comes with 
an ill grace from those who hold to such tenets 
as necessarily imply that all must be alike saved, 
or otherwise impeach the infinite benevolence 
and rectitude of God. 

Let me ask, Do you regard the punishment 
of the wicked, according to my view, as very 
little more than no punishment at all ? Is it 
nothing to be driven away in their wickedness 
and reserved in hell {Jiades), to be punished in 



172 ATHEISM AND THEISM. 

a future life ? their spirits being unhappy there 
because wicked. Is it nothing to be excluded 
from the first resurrection and the glory and 
blessedness of the saints of God? Is it noth- 
ing to be left in hell [hades) during the Millen- 
nium, banished from the presence of the Lord 
and the glory of his power? Is it nothing that 
theirs will be the resurrection of condemnation 
in natural bodies, and that they will be punished 
with indignation and wrath, tribulation and an- 
guish, symbolized by their being cast into the 
lake of fire ? Is it nothing that their condition 
will be one of dishonor and subjection forever ? 
And will the everlasting and irretrievable loss, 
by their own fault, of the glorious and blessed 
condition of the saints, ever before their eyes, 
cause them no shame or regret ? Will all this 
be little more than no punishment at all ? Do 
you, can you think that if the great mass of the 
wicked understood all this they would so regard 
it ? Do you think there is nothing will move 
men to repentance but the fear of everlasting 
torment ? And what effect has the doctrine 
of everlasting torment upon them ? Is it the 
preaching of eternal torments which converts 
sinners ? Is it the fear of eternal torment pre- 
serves the saints in obedience? Surely the an- 
swer must be in the negative. 

But you were speculating in your mind upon 



OBJECTIONS ANTICIPATED. 1 73 

the results. You were thinking that when the 
wicked shall have been subdued and reconciled, 
and all pain and torment shall cease, then there 
would be so little difference between their con- 
dition and that of the saints that it would be 
very little more than no punishment at all, and 
you concluded that the great mass of the wicked 
would overlook all the punishment previously 
inflicted upon such and deem the difference in 
favor of the saints as unworthy of consideration. 
Now, suppose the penalty for theft were ten 
years' imprisonment at hard labor in the peni- 
tentiary and afterwards perpetual servitude to 
the government in making roads, etc., and in- 
eligibility to office, though, on becoming fully 
reformed, the condition would be made as com- 
fortable as possible, do you think the majority 
of covetous persons would say, ''Well, if I am 
only made comfortable at last I don't care for 
the shame and disgrace or the previous impris- 
onment and hard labor, or the severity of the 
discipline required to break me of this vice; 
I will just go on and steal everything I can 
lay my hands on ;" especially if it were known 
that arrest and condemnation were absolutely 
certain ? Now, is it not a fact that the great 
mass of the wicked profess to believe in endless 
torment ? and what effect has it on them ? Does 
it quench the fire of their lusts? Does it influ- 

15* 



174 ATHEISM AND THEISM. 

ence them to holiness of heart and life ? Does 
it awaken in them contrition for sin ? Nay, 
verily. It hardens them in vice. It excites 
enmity to God. Such at least has been the 
usual effects as far as my observation has ex- 
tended. Nevertheless, sin and its punishment 
must be faithfully proclaimed that men may 
know that God will recompense indignation 
and wrath, tribulation and anguish, on every 
one that doth evil. And some are saved by 
fear, pulling them out of the fire. 

But in regard to the final condition after the 
reconciliation of all sinful intelligences to God; 
do you think that the difference between their 
condition and that of the glorified saints will be 
so small that no motive can be drawn thence to 
induce persons to forsake sin and follow after 
holiness? So thought not Paul, who says, 
" But in a great house there are not only vessels 
of gold and of silver, but also of wood and 
of earth ; and some to honor, and some to dis- 
honor. If a man therefore purge himself from 
these (iniquities previously mentioned), he shall 
be a vessel unto honor," etc. Here the motive 
to forsake sin and attain to holiness is the ex- 
alted condition of honor to be gained thereby, 
that of being made a king and a priest in the 
kingdom of God,— a motive which appeals to 
one at least of the strongest passions of man's 



OBJECTIONS ANTICIPATED. 175 

nature, that of ambition. We see that men will 
undergo any hardships, make great sacrifices, 
and perform any labor to secure position, high 
rank, and official dignity. If they will do so 
much to obtain a corruptible crown, even though 
uncertain of attainment, what would they not 
do to obtain an incorruptible one could they be 
persuaded that it was really attainable ? 

E. I cannot agree to your theory for two 
reasons : First, I cannot see the Scripture upon 
which it is based. You are firm, even enthusi- 
astic, in the belief that it is just what the Bible 
teaches ; but I do not see that you show where. 
Where, for example, is your Scripture for your 
view of the lake of fire and brimstone, which is 
the second death ? Where that for the restora- 
tion of those who are said to be cast into that 
lake to the kingdom of God, even in a state of 
subjection and dishonor? I do not discover 
it in your writings. 

I. My view of the lake of fire and brimstone 
is that it is a symbol. Does that require any 
proof? That it does not signify annihilation. 
Do you object and require proof of the nega- 
tive ? I hold that it is a symbol of the punish- 
ment of the wicked for their personal sins, and 
so called the second death to distinguish it 
from the penalty of Adam's sin, which is death. 
And in Rev. ii. 11, and xx. 6, it is said that 



176 ATHEISM AND THEISM. 

those who have overcome the world and have 
part in the first resurrection shall not be hurt 
of the second death, for on them it hath no 
power. And they are evidently exempt from 
that penalty because their sins are forgiven. 
Hence, also, when the rest of the dead shall be 
raised and judged, only those who are not found 
written in the book of life — that is, those whose 
sins are not forgiven — shall be cast into the 
lake of fire. And as a symbol of their punish- 
ment it answers to the indignation and wrath, 
tribulation and anguish, which Paul says shall 
be recompensed on every one that doth evil. 
Both relate to the last judgment and final pun- 
ishment. I suppose it includes both mental 
and bodily sufferings. Do you object to this ? 
If the second death does not represent the pun- 
ishment of the wicked for their personal sins 
after they shall be raised from the dead, then 
there is no punishment hereafter, for it is the 
only thing of a penal character to which they 
are subjected. And if it does represent their 
punishment, it can be nothing else but the in- 
dignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, 
of which Paul speaks. 

As to the restoration of those who are said to 
be cast into the lake of fire to the kingdom of 
God, it is nowhere intimated that they are cast 
out of the kingdom of God. The punishment 



OBJECTIONS ANTICIPATED. \jj 

symbolized by the lake of fire will take place 
after they are raised from the dead, and, there- 
fore, upon the earth, which is the territory of 
the kingdom ; and so we read, " If any man 
w T orship the beast and his image, and receive 
his mark in his forehead or in his hand, the 
same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of 
God, which is poured out without mixture into 
the cup of his indignation ; and he shall be tor- 
mented with fire and brimstone in the presence 
of the holy angels, and in the presence of the 
Lamb." Rev. xiv. 9, 10. Here the wine of 
wrath in the cup of indignation corresponds 
with the lake of fire and brimstone, and dem- 
onstrates the correctness of our view. And 
this punishment is inflicted in the presence of 
Christ and his holy angels, therefore in the 
kingdom. It will be, too, under the adminis- 
tration of the saints, as is shown by Ps. cxlix. 
5-9 : " Let the saints be joyful in glory : let 
them sing aloud upon their couches (royal 
seats). Let the high praises of God be in 
their mouth, and a sharp two-edged sword 
in their hand ; to execute vengeance upon the 
heathen, and punishments upon the people ; to 
bind their kings with chains, and their nobles 
with fetters of iron ; to execute upon them the 
judgment written : this honor have all the 
saints." The question, then, is not whether 



178 ATHEISM AND THEISM. 

those punished in the future will be in the 
kingdom and under the dominion of the 
saints, but will that punishment symbolized 
by the lake of fire never end ? For it is writ- 
ten, " And the smoke of their torment ascend- 
eth up for ever and ever (ek altivag a(6va)^ ; and 
they have no rest day nor night, who worship the 
beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth 
the mark of his name." Rev. xiv. 11. This is, 
perhaps, the strongest passage of Scripture that 
can be educed in support of the dogmas of end- 
less torment; for, first, it has reference to a con- 
dition of final punishment; second, it relates to 
its duration; and, third, the terms are as strong 
as any that can be employed. If this does not 
prove it, no other passage will be likely to 
prove it. Well, then, first, the interpretation 
of this passage, as well as all others of like 
import, must be in accordance with the nature 
and attributes of God and the analogy of faith, 
or the whole scheme of redemption. It must 
accord with 1 John iv. 16, " God is love;" Lam. 
iii. 31, 32, " For the Lord will not cast off for- 
ever ; but though he cause grief, yet will he 
have compassion according to the multitude 
of his mercies ;" Ps. ciii. 9, " He will not 
always chide, neither will he keep his anger 
forever ;" and others of like import. It must 
accord with Rom. viii. 20, " For the creature was 



OBJECTIONS ANTICIPATED. 179 

subjected to vanity, not willingly, but by reason 
of him who hath subjected it in hope, because 
the creature itself also shall be delivered from 
the bondage of corruption into the liberty of 
the glory of the children of God." * And Eph. 
i. 9, 10, "Having made known unto us the mys- 
tery of his will, according to his good pleasure 
which he hath purposed in himself, unto a dis- 
pensation of the fulness of the times he might 
gather together under one head all things in 
Christ, those in the heavens and those in the 
earth, even in him," and v. 22, 23, u And hath 
put all things under his feet, and gave him to be 
the head over all things to the Church, which 
is his body, the completeness of him that filleth 
all in all." And Col. i. 20, " And through him 

* The word here rendered creature does not signify all 
creation, animate and inanimate, but simply all mankind in 
contradistinction from the children of God, for whose man- 
ifestation they are, in verse 19, said to wait in expectation of 
deliverance from the bondage of corruption, verse 21, into the 
liberty of their glory. Hence, in verse 23, they are placed in 
contrast, "And not only they (all mankind), but OURSELVES 
also, which have the first fruits of the Spirit," etc. And the 
argument is that not only the saints of God, who are a kind 
of first fruits of his creatures, will be redeemed from death, 
and glorified with Christ as kings and priests in his king- 
dom, but that all mankind shall subsequently be raised from 
the dead, freed from the bondage of corruption, and brought 
into the liberty of the glory of the saints, — i.e., the liberty to be 
enjoyed under their righteous government. 



1 80 ATHEISM AND THEISM. 

» 

to reconcile the whole unto himself, having 
made peace through the blood of his cross ; 
through him, whether those upon the earth 
or those in the heavens." And Phil. ii. 10, 
II, " That at the name of Jesus every knee 
should bow, of those in heaven, and those in 
earth and those under the earth ; and that 
every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ 
is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." 
And I Tim. iv. 10, ""The living God is the 
Saviour of all men, specially of them that 
believe," and others of similar import. Now, 
the doctrine of endless torment does not ac- 
cord with these representations of the charac- 
ter and purpose of God, and therefore cannot 
be the meaning of that in question. What 
then ? Is the meaning inexplicable ? Let us 
see. The Greek word o!6j signifies an age, and 
ou&vaq aiwvwv ages of ages, so rendered in the 
margin of the revised New Testament, and et$ 
signifies unto. And unto ages of ages may 
mean to the commencement of a succession 
of ages, or to the completion of them. I hold 
that it means the latter. For the lake of fire 
belongs to the symbolic structure of the book 
of Revelation, which unfolds the great scheme 
of redemption through successive ages denoted 
by seven seals, seven trumpets, seven visions, 
and terminating with seven vials or bowls. 



OBJECTIONS ANTICIPATED. i8l 

And the lake of fire belongs to the seventh 
vial or bowl, which is the last, and in which 
the wrath of God is said to be finished or 
brought to an end {ereledO-q^ to make an end 
of or to finish). Now, if the wrath of God 
shall be finished, or made an end of, at the 
termination of the seventh vial or bowl as 
the last of the series, then the lake of fire, 
which is the last measure of Divine wrath, 
must also terminate or be finished, and the 
smoke of their torment no longer ascend. On 
this explanation the term ages of ages has ref- 
erence to the several periods of the Apocalyptic 
visions. And we should expect that at their ter- 
mination it would be announced that there will 
be no more wrath : and this is the announce- 
ment, Rev. xxii. 3, " And there shall be no 
more curse." Then, no more wrath; no more 
lake of fire ; no more pain ; no more tribulation, 
nor indignation, nor anguish ; no more death, 
neither sorrow nor crying: for the former things 
are passed away. 

Rev. iv. and v. is a prelude to the after-visions, 
and represents the final issue. There we see the 
throne on which Christ as the representative of 
God sits arrayed in ineffable glory. Then there 
is a lamb before the throne representing Christ 
in his mediatorial character. Then four living 

ones and four-and-twenty elders, who represent 

16 



1 82 ATHEISM AND THEISM. 

the saints redeemed by his blood, and made 
kings and priests unto God, and who shall 
reign on the earth. Then in the next circle 
we see the angels who represent all who kept 
their first estate, and will sustain the next rank 
to the saints in the future dominion of the 
world. After which we see in the last circle 
every creature which is in heaven and in the 
earth, and under the earth, and such as are in 
the sea, and all that are in them. And these 
evidently represent all intelligent beings be- 
longing to the earth, angelic and human, ex- 
cept those embraced in the other circles. And 
each circle or company has its appropriate song 
expressive of their relations to God and the 
Lamb. In this last circle no wail of woe is 
heard, no cry of anguish, no sign of unutter- 
able despair; but only the voice of praise. 

E. My second reason is that your doctrine 
takes away much of the strength of the mo- 
tives to repentance and faith in Christ drawn 
from the rewards and punishments of a future 
life ; for let the wicked man be assured that his 
condition in eternity will be what you represent, 
and all fear and terror are gone, and he may live 
in sin and riot in wickedness according to his 
heart's desire. 

I. I suppose you will admit that the gospel 
is the moral suasion by which sinners are 



OBJECTIONS ANTICIPATED. 183 

turned from the error of their ways and rec- 
onciled to God. Now, if the doctrine of 
eternal torment is a part of the gospel, if it 
is any part of the good tidings of great joy 
which is unto all people, then, indeed, it ought 
to be preached. But I think it is of a different 
character, and might be called evil tidings of 
great woe and misery. I can conceive of noth- 
ing more evil than it is, whether in relation to 
the condition of man or the character and gov- 
ernment of God. Instead of his true charac- 
ter, it exhibits him as a merciless tyrant and 
inexorable judge. There is a great difference 
between the doctrine of rewards and punish- 
ments as taught in the Scriptures, in which 
God's paternal character and righteous gov- 
ernment are vindicated, and the doctrine of 
endless torment in which his character and 
government are libelled. From the former may 
be drawn motives to repentance, and faith in 
Christ ; from the latter they arise not, but 
their tendency is to harden, not subdue. 

I teach that God has a right to the love and 
obedience of all intelligences ; and if they re- 
bel against him, he will vindicate that right by 
punishing them for their sins, and employing 
the most effectual means of subduing them to 
his authority and making them obedient to his 
laws. Endless punishment could not do this. 



I 84 A THEISM AND THEISM. 

It can, therefore, form no part of the Divine 
economy; being contrary to his nature, sub- 
versive of his rights, contradictory to his word, 
and libellous of his character. 

I next introduce one of whom I have no per- 
sonal knowledge, giving the objections as near 
as possible in his own words and those of a 
friend whom he considered competent to teach. 
Only irrelevant matter is excluded, and the ob- 
jections strengthened by the new arrangement. 
I designate him by the letter S. 

S. Against your view that " In the consum- 
mation of the Divine purpose, when all shall be 
subdued to Christ's government and confess 
his Lordship, pain and torment will cease by 
the removal of their cause," I offer an objection. 
I see by Rev. xxi. 4, that pain and sorrow, death 
and crying cease on the earth after the judgment 
of the wicked dead, who are brought out of 
their prison, which was in the earth, united to 
their bodies, and souls and bodies cast into the 
lake of fire ; this is the second death, — the lake 
of fire. And I see by Rev. xx. 10, that "the 
devil was cast into the lake of fire and brim- 
stone, where the beast and the false prophet are, 
and (they three) shall be tormented day and 
night for ever and ever. ,, This phrase " for ever 
and ever" means eternity and has no end. 

I. We fully agree that the wicked, whether 



OBJECTIONS ANTICIPATED. 185 

fallen angels or men, will be punished for their 
sins, and that the lake of fire in the Revelation 
is a symbol of that punishment, which Paul, in 
Rom. ii. 8, 9, declares to be " indignation and 
wrath r tribulation and anguish, upon every soul 
of "man that doth evil." And hence it must be 
after they shall be raised from the dead, for man 
without a body is not a living soul, but only a 
conscious spirit : yet wicked spirits, separate 
from their bodies, will be tormented by their 
sense of guilt and fearful looking for of judg- 
ment and fiery indignation. But that torment 
will not be the same as the indignation. The 
fear of punishment, however tormenting, is not 
the punishment itself. And the wicked who 
are in death and hell must be brought out of 
death and hell to be punished, as we learn from 
Rev. xx. 12-15. The lake of fire is not anni- 
hilation, which would be a sudden and sharp 
execution, attended with momentary suffering, 
but rendering them insensible to pain or tor- 
ment thereafter. The lake of fire represents a 
punishment which causes torment continuing 
long after the wicked shall be cast into it, and 
involves the idea of their conscious existence 
all the time. The question and that about 
which we differ is, How long will this torment 
continue ? The Greek phrase is, ek roug ai&vaq 
twv alwvojV) rendered "for ever and ever," but lit- 
16* 



1 86 A THEISM AND THEISM, 

erally "unto the ages of the ages" You say this 
means eternity and has no end. But ai<6v and 
its equivalent, tyP, are properly rendered an 
age } and applied to periods of unequal length, 
and are more frequently used for indefinite than 
for infinite time, and especially in the plural 
form, for eternity has no plural. It would be 
incongruous to substitute eternities of eternities 
for ages of ages. And if forever means eter- 
nity, for ever and ever cannot mean more than 
eternity, and the repetition of ever is superflu- 
ous. Ages of ages is indefinite time ; eternity 
is infinite. Although an endless succession of 
ages would be eternity. But ages of ages does 
not mean an endless succession, and therefore 
is not eternity. 

S. Let us beware how we tamper with this 
word " forever/' I Am says in Ex. iii. 15, " This 
is my name forever ;" Eccl. iii. 14, "I know 
that whatsoever God doth, it shall be forever." 
In Rev. xxi. 6, God says, " It is done." This is 
his rest, as in Gen. ii. 3. Moreover, he says, " I 
am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the 
end; ,, and in this only full glimpse at the begin- 
ning of eternity or the Sabbath without end 
(for Christ's one thousand years' reign is not 
rest, but rule) then righteousness dwells. But 
to avoid all mistake, God's last word, verse 8, 
tells the unending sad fate of the wicked, " which 



OBJECTIONS ANTICIPATED, 187 

is the second death. " Forever" cannot have 
one meaning for God and another for the 
wicked. 

I. Theologians, by their creeds, fail to limit 
God's election to those who believe and obey 
the gospel in this life, which the Scriptures do ; 
but they limit his mercy to those whom they 
call the elect, and consign all others to endless 
torment, which the Scriptures do not. And 
hence they spare no pains to justify their creeds 
at the expense of God's truth and mercy. 
Surely the testimony of Scripture must be the 
basis of our faith ; but we must not so interpret 
Scripture as to libel the character of God. His 
infinite benevolence and rectitude are taught in 
Scripture, and we must not impute to him any- 
thing contrary thereto. The Scriptures, both 
in Hebrew and Greek, show that the word ren- 
dered "forever" is of equivocal signification, 
being used for different periods of time, as a 
lifetime, Gen. xliii. 9; a jubilee, or what re- 
mains of a jubilee, Ex. xxi. 6; an age or dis- 
pensation, Num. xviii. 19; and eternity, Rom. 
ix. 5. The length of the period is not deter- 
mined by the word itself, but by the nature of 
that to which it is applied. You say, " It can- 
not have one meaning for God and another for 
the wicked;" but that is just what it has : for 
when referring to the infinite it may mean in- 



1 88 ATHEISM AND THEISM. 

finite duration, and when to the finite, finite 
duration. Now we find altiv translated world 
thirty-nine times, and mostly with reference to 
the present age or the age to come, and in none 
of these places does it signify eternity. 

S. I am not a Greek scholar, but a friend who 
is, says " for ever and ever," or " for ages of ages," 
once only without the article, occurs fourteen 
times in the book of Revelation. Ten times it 
refers to the being, reign, or worship of God, 
once to the saints' reign, and three times to the 
torment of the wicked. " Unto the ages" is the 
literal rendering of " forever" in seven places, — 
Luke i. 33, Rom. i. 25, ix. 5, xi. 36, xvi. 37, 2 
Cor. xi. 31, Heb. xiii. 8 (Matt. vi. 13 is rejected 
by the critics), and in Jude 25 we have u unto 
all the ages." All these occurrences are found 
in ascriptions of praise to God. The celebra- 
tion of a glory which can never cease, or unto 
the unchangeableness of Christ, " The same 
yesterday, to-day, and forever," or to his king- 
dom. That is, the expressions are used to de- 
note a proper eternity. Once we have " the 
ages of ages" (Eph. iii. 21), "Unto him be glory 
in the Church by Christ Jesus unto all the 
generations of the ages of ages." These are 
all the occurrences of the plural form with 
reference to the future. All, therefore, that 
could be even supposed to connect with any 



OBJECTIONS ANTICIPATED. 1 89 

future restitution of those unsaved on the day 
of grace. But the most frequent term for eter- 
nity is not a plural form, and here it would 
hardly do to render it " for the age." What 
age ? Most certainly one that comes to an 
end cannot be intended when it is said that 
" Christ abideth forever ;" or that " He that 
eateth of this bread shall live forever ;" or, 
again, " Thy throne, O God, is for ever and 
ever" (literally for the "course of eternity," or, 
if to be uniform, " the age of the age"). Thus 
we are compelled to find, if possible, another 
meaning for al&v here than "age," and it is 
quite certain that, whatever its original mean- 
ing, the Greeks, long before the New Testa- 
ment, used it for eternity. It remains to be 
proved yet — for it never has been done — that 
the phrase in question ever means anything 
less or else than just " forever." 

I. The meaning of words in the New Testa- 
ment is not to be determined by their etymol- 
ogy, but by their use in the New Testament 
itself. The origin or derivation of a word fur- 
nishes the basis of the various significations it 
may acquire by use, and must not be disre- 
garded. Alajv y from ae( ) akvays, and <^, being, sig- 
nifies duration or continuance of time, with great 
variation as to its length, and denotes the full 
period, whether long or short. In Eph. ii. 7, 



I90 ATHEISM AND THEISM. 

and Col. i. 26, it is rendered ages ; the latter 
referring to ages past, the former to ages to 
come ; that to times during which the mystery 
of God was hidden from generations, this to 
time in which it is being, and shall be made 
known. In these passages eternity is out of 
the question. So, also, in Eph. iii. 21, " Unto 
him be glory in the Church by Christ Jesus 
unto all the generations of the age of the ages:" 
for it refers to times in which there will be gen- 
erations, and there will be no generations in eter- 
nity. Indeed, generations do not extend beyond 
the Millennium. And if too altivoq r&v aiwvwv, 
the age of the ages, in its construction with gen- 
erations is thus limited by the Millennium, rdug 
aiwvaq rd» aiwva>v f the ages of the ages y for any- 
thing that appears to the contrary, may be 
limited by " the times of the restitution of all 
things," at the termination of which all things 
shall be subdued to Christ, and then also shall 
the Son be subject to him that put all things 
under him, that God may be all in all. 1 Cor. 
xv. 28. Indeed, this is the only logical termi- 
nation of the ages of the ages, which comprise 
all the times of redemption for the Church and 
the times of restitution of all things, spoken of 
by all the holy prophets since the world began. 
And the connections in which this phrase stands 
in the book of Revelation show that it relates to 



OBJECTIONS ANTICIPATED. 19 1 

the times of which the book treats, and has no 
reference to eternity at all. Even in Jude 25 
the expression efe ndvraq robq ala>vag f unto all ages, 
may have the same limit; for unless eternity is 
composed of ages it cannot mean eternity. As- 
criptions of prajse to God may be made for ages 
without implying that they will cease at the ter- 
mination of the ages ; as it is said the saints shall 
reign with Christ a thousand years without im- 
plying that at the end of that period their reign 
shall cease. And so when Christ says, " I am 
the first and the last and the Living One; and I 
was dead, and, behold, I am alive unto the ages 
of the ages," Rev. i. 17, 18, it no more expresses 
eternity than his saying, " I am the Alpha and 
the Omega, which is, and which was, and which 
is to come, the Almighty," Rev. i. 8 ; for both 
relate simply to the ages of redemption and 
restitution, which had a beginning and shall 
have an end, and of which Christ is the only 
and all-sufficient Mediator. So when it is said 
" Christ abideth forever," or " unto the age," 
eiq rdv aiajva f it has reference to the age of re- 
demption and restitution, as it is written, " Thou 
art a priest forever (ek tov al&va} f after the order 
of Melchizedek ;" who was the priest of an en- 
tire age or dispensation, having neither prede- 
cessor nor successor, and was therefore said to 
abide continually. So Christ is the priest of 



I92 ATHEISM AND THEISM. 

the entire age of salvation, — the Alpha and the 
Omega of it, — having none before and none 
after him, but abideth continually to the end. 
Hence it is not an endless age, even as Mel- 
chizedek's was not an endless age. And so 
when the Father said to the Son, " Thy 
throne, O God, is for ever and ever," or " unto 
the age of the age" (ek to* alajva too alwvoq) % it 
signifies that his throne on which he will sit as 
a priest (Zech. vi. 13) in reconciling all things 
to God shall continue unto the end of the last 
age of the age or dispensation of redemption, 
when the Son " shall have delivered up the 
kingdom to God, even the Father; when he 
shall have put down all rule, and all authority 
and power." 1 Cor. xv. 24. It is not true, 
therefore, that " we are compelled to find an- 
other meaning for Aiwv here than age." Be- 
sides, if where the term in all the thirty places 
where it is rendered zvorld means eternity, then 
by Matt. xiii. 39, 40, 49, xxiv. 3, and xxviii. 20, 
eternity will have an end, which cannot be ; and 
hence is proof that the phrase does mean some- 
thing less and else than just forever, and that 
age is its proper meaning. Now, can the Scrip- 
tures help us to the meaning of this phrase, the 
age or ages of the ages ? Let us see. The Scrip- 
tures are always consistent with themselves. 
And they furnish us with a parallel in the Jew- 



OBJECTIONS ANTICIPATED, 1 93 

ish age or dispensation, which, being composed 
of jubilees, also called ages, was an age of ages. 
And the Apocalypse reveals to us an age of 
ages in its wonderful construction : so that with 
other dispensations past and to come we have 
the ages of the ages, but not eternity. And 
however long these times may be, and they 
will be no longer than necessary to effect the 
Divine purpose, they will have an end. And 
there shall be no more curse.* 

S. Read these counter-truths : " He that is 
unjust, let him be unjust still: and he that is 
filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is 
righteous, let him be righteous still : and he 
that is holy, let him be holy still." What 
meaning has still, still, still, still? As 
Lincoln says, " Practice begets habit; habit be- 
gets character ; and character is eternal." Rev. 
xiv. 10, II, " The same shall drink of the wine 
of the wrath of God, which is poured out with- 
out mixture into the cup of his indignation; 
and he, shall be tormented with fire and brim- 



* The jubilee has a meaning beyond the object of its first 
institution. In the jubilee all bondage ceased, all debts were 
cancelled, all liens expired, and every man was restored to 
his own inheritance. It will have its counterpart in the ages 
to come, in the restitution of all things. It was only a shadow 
of better things to come. It was a great act of limitation, and 
typifies the consummation of redemption. 
in 17 



194 ATHEISM AND THEISM. 

stone in the presence of the holy angels and in 
the presence of the Lamb (! !) : and the smoke of 
their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever. 
And they have no rest day nor night." Sheets 
might be filled to prove that the position of the 
wicked is to be torment without end. Yq. sad- 
ness we may state it, but nevertheless the word, 
" Is God unrighteous who taketh vengeance ?" 
" Yea, let God be true and every man a liar." 

I. " Read these counter-truths !" As if God's 
word could have truths contrary to each other. 
God's word has nothing in it contrary to his 
eternal purpose of reconciling all things unto^ 
himself by Jesus Christ in the ages (not eter- 
nities) to come. If you so interpret God's 
word as to make him a liar, you interpret it 
falsely; and if you interpret it to mean that 
God will not reconcile all unto himself; that he 
will not bring the wickedness of the wicked to 
an end, and that the curse of sin and its pun- 
ishment in torment shall continue ad infinitum, 
you interpret it falsely. Beware lest you libel 
the character and government of God. 

Rev. xxii. 10-15 is the closing admonition 
of the angel sent to signify to John the things 
contained in the Revelation, and his admoni- 
tion is for those to whom the revelation is made. 
He warns us that whosoever remains unjust and 
filthy during this life, and so dies, shall be un- 



OBJECTIONS ANTICIPATED. 195 

just and filthy when Christ comes ; and who- 
soever becomes righteous and holy in this life, 
and so dies, shall be righteous and holy when 
Christ comes, who will recompense each ac- 
cording to his works. The word still does 
not mean forever, but indicates that God will 
preserve his saints unto eternal life and glory, 
and reserve the unjust unto the day of judg- 
ment to be punished. That punishment will be 
on the earth, for it will be in the presence of the 
holy angels and of the Lamb, and will not be 
till after the Millennium. And the saints will 
be the executive rulers under whom that pun- 
ishment will be inflicted. As it is written, Ps. 
cxlix. 5-9, " Let the saints be joyful in glory : 
let them sing aloud upon their beds (or royal 
seats). Let the high praises of God be in 
their mouth, and a two : edged sword in their 
hand ; to execute vengeance upon the heathen, 
and punishments upon the people ; to bind their 
kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters 
of iron; to execute upon them the judgment 
written : this honor have all the saints." And 
if that punishment shall be endless torment 
such as would result from being burned in a 
lake of fire and brimstone, the future of the 
saints will be anything but a heaven of joy 
and blessedness. But away with such a thought. 
Scripture warrants us to believe that it will be 



196 atheism and theism. 

judicious and disciplinary, intended to subdue 
all to God, and result in their submission and 
reconciliation as subjects of the kingdom of 
Christ. 

Note.-— The subjection and reconciliation of all things will 
be effected by the agencies and means which shall be instituted 
in the kingdom of God under the administration of Christ 
and his saints. Ps. ii. 6-9; cxlix. 5-9; lxvi. 2, 3; Phil. iii. 
21. Rev. E. W. Gilbert, of the Presbyterian Church, in a 
tract on " Moral Suasion," said, " The empire of motives over 
the moral is as irresistible and infinite as his physical power 
over the universe of matter.'''' "By the lazvs of our mental 
and moral nature we can bear only a certain amount of moral 
pressure." " There is an amount of pressure on the heart be- 
fore which it must break ; and a pressure on the will before 
which it must bend ; as surely as the most obstinate bow is 
bent by sufficient force, or as the hardest steel melts before the 
influence of the furnace /' and" The Most High has truths 
in his quiver by which he can subdue any rebel and render 
that enemy his most devoted and adoring friend" We do not 
go so far as this, for on that principle, as applied to the gospel 
dispensation or any other dispensation, God could, if he would, 
make saints of all mankind and devils too ; and thus verify 
the dream of universalism. But we surely may be allowed to 
believe that God will institute such agencies and means as 
shall be effectual in subduing all rebels and making them 
obedient and happy subjects of his government. 



EX PL A NA TIONS. \ gj 



PART IX. 



EXPLANATIONS. 



These explanations have in general been 
given either by letter privately or through the 
press in answer to those who sought for infor- 
mation, the removal of difficulties, or otherwise 
to prove the dogma of endless torment. They 
have been revised for this final part to meet the 
case of any whose minds may be similarly ex- 
ercised. 

I. — LETTER TO MISS L. K. 

The words of Paul, " We trust in the living 
God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of 
those that believe," I Tim. iv. 10, have respect 
not only to a common and a special salvation, 
but also to two classes of saved ones, embracing 
" all men." The special class are believers in 
Jesus Christ, who are called and justified and 
sanctified, and shall be glorified and made kings 
and priests in the future kingdom of God. The 
common class includes all the rest of mankind, 
who, though excluded from the special salva- 

17* 



I98 ATHEISM AND THEISM. 

tion because of unbelief, shall be raised from 
the dead and subjected to the government of 
Christ and his saints in the kingdom of God. 
Salvation in either case includes its preparatory- 
steps, but has reference to the ultimate condi- 
tion of the saved. The words " O Lord, thou 
preservest man and beast/' Ps. xxxvi. 6, do not 
refer to salvation. They only relate to their 
preservation here in this life, for beasts are not 
saved. No resurrection, no after-life await 
them. Salvation is not predicated of beasts 
and other irrational creatures. But the ulti- 
mate condition, of " all men" is salvation, and 
believers in Christ have a special salvation, 
unto which they are kept by the power of God. 
Preservation unto utter and endless torment, 
which you hold to be the destiny of the wicked, 
is not salvation, but damnation. It would be 
absolutely false to say that God is the Saviour 
of all men, if the ultimate of any shall be utter 
torment. 

The ultimate condition of all mankind is set 
forth in Dan. vii. 27, from which we learn that 
the saints — all believers in Christ — shall be 
rulers in the kingdom of God, and the rest of 
mankind shall serve and obey them. To this 
Eph. i. 10, for in the dispensation of the fulness 
of times (the ages of the ages) he will gather 
all intelligent beings, angelic and human, under 



EXPLANATIONS. . 1 99 

one government, of which Christ will be the 
head, the saints kings and priests, and the holy- 
angels their messengers refers. Then every knee 
shall bow to Jesus, and every tongue shall con- 
fess his Lordship. Phil. ii. 10, II. Read Ps. 
xxii. 27, 28; lxvi. 3, 4; ex. 2, 3; cxlix. 5-9; 
Rev. v. 13 ; xxii. 1-3. These are but a few of 
the passages which indicate the ultimate condi- 
tion referred to as the common salvation to be 
effected in the dispensation of the fulness of the 
times, that is, at the completion of the ages of 
the ages of redemption. Gal. iv. 4 does not 
refer to the same times. It speaks of but one 
time, that appointed for the incarnation of the 
Son of God, and is not relevant to the question. 
Your hypothesis that now Christ is gather- 
ing together in one all things in himself, and 
that this will be accomplished during the pres- 
ent dispensation, is altogether inadequate to the 
comprehensive language of Paul, as well as con- 
trary to the testimony of Jesus, which shows 
that instead of all men being gathered together 
under him during this dispensation by the gos- 
pel, there will be abounding iniquity and declin- 
ing piety, until at his coming the world will be 
as it was in the days of Noah, or as Sodom in 
the days of Lot. And now the increase of 
crimes of all sorts and the worldliness of the 
churches give fearful premonition that the end 



200 ATHEISM AND THEISM. 

is near. By the words of James in Acts xv. 
13-18, we learn that this dispensation will be 
effectual only in taking out- of the Gentiles a 
people for the name of the Lord to make up 
the complement of the true church ; after which 
Christ will return and build again the taber- 
nacle of David, that the residue of men — all 
Israel — might seek after the Lord, and all the 
Gentiles upon whom his name is called. Thus 
we see that after the special salvation of the 
church shall be consummated the times of resti- 
tution of all things will commence, during which 
all Israel and all the Gentiles shall seek after the 
Lord. And in the covenant of promise God said 
to Abraham, " In thy seed shall all the nations 
of the earth be blessed/' The seed of Abraham, 
according to this promise, are all true believers, 
redeemed out of every kindred and tongue and 
people and nation. They are the specially saved. 
And being one with Christ, and kings and 
priests unto God, they shall reign on the earth. 
Hence Christ and his saints are the seed of 
Abraham in whom all the nations shall be 
blessed. Who are all the nations ? They are 
every kindred and tongue and people and na- 
tion out of whom the saints are redeemed. 
And what is meant by their being blessed ? 
Certainly not eternal torment. There is no 
blessing in endless torment. It evidently means 



EXP LA NA TIONS. 20 1 

salvation from sin, sorrow, pain, and torment, 
and to be made obedient and happy. And so 
all nations, all the families of the earth shall be 
blessed in Abraham's seed. 

Now, if I should promise the first resurrec- 
tion and heirship in the kingdom of God to 
unbelievers and nominal Christians, and to any 
except true believers, who are called, justified, 
and sanctified in Christ Jesus, I should be lia- 
ble to the charge of sugar-coating the pills of 
condemnation ; but I do not. I declare most 
positively that such shall have no part in the 
first resurrection, nor in the glory of the king- 
dom of God ; that they shall be excluded there- 
from ; shall come forth in the resurrection of 
condemnation, and shall be punished for their 
sins ; but I dare not say that that punishment 
will be utter and endless torment, for that would 
be to falsify the promise of God and libel his 
government. 



II. — BETTER TO MISS L. K. 

A lady afflicted with a painful disease, for 
which a physician prescribed a remedy, not 
relishing the taste of the medicine, instead 
of taking it threw it out of the window, and, 
becoming worse, condemned the physician and 
demanded a change of treatment. She did not 



202 ATHEISM AND THEISM. 

consider that rejected medicines cannot cure 
diseases. So, also, rejected truths cannot alle- 
viate sorrow. Jesus could not do mighty works 
where the people had no faith. Old errors are 
often more palatable than new truths. 

" Utter torment !'' What a theme ! If your 
soul does not recoil from that, if that does not 
exhaust your tears and make you sigh for 
greater power to weep, nothing else should 
disturb your placidity or awaken your emo- 
tion. Utter torment not only means endless 
misery, but implies endless sinning, endless 
pollution, endless hostility against God, end- 
less hatred of God, endless blasphemy of 
God ; it implies that wicked men are able to 
hold out against God by enduring all the 
torment he can inflict, and that he is unable 
to subdue them to his government, and rec- 
oncile them to his will ; or if he can he will 
not, and that is still worse; for it makes him 
a very Moloch, who delights in the misery 
and torture of his creatures. A father who 
should not only punish his son for disobedi- 
ence, but utterly exclude him from all possi- 
bility of reconciliation and put him to continual 
torture, would forfeit the name of parent, and 
prove that his nature was malignant to the 
core. Can you think this of God? 

A weak and injudicious father might perhaps 



EXPLANATIONS. 203 

be so foolish as to say he was sorry for having 
punished a disobedient child, and thus bring 
his government into contempt and encourage 
rebellion ; but God never says to the incor- 
rigible sinner, " I am sorry for having pun- 
ished you," nor does he for a moment relent 
in the execution of his judgments so as to let 
the wicked go unpunished ; but when he be- 
gins he will also make an end, and push his 
advantage over the rebellious sinner until he 
has subdued him to his government and rec- 
onciled him to his will. If not, the punish- 
ment would be wholly vindictive and cruel, 
because no good end would be attained by 
it. A government which should fill its prisons 
with racks, thumb -screws, and other imple- 
ments of torture, and subject its criminals of 
every grade, after condemnation, to utter and 
unmitigable torment, would be regarded as in- 
human, fiendish, and deserving universal exe- 
cration. Shall we, then, attribute such govern- 
ment to God, whose nature is love ? 

If subjugation is destruction, as you intimate, 
and if during the Millennium Christ will com- 
plete the destruction of all his enemies, what be- 
comes of your eternal torment theory ? There 
can be no torment after complete destruction. 
But subduing all things unto himself is not de- 
stroying all things from himself. The two pro- 



204 ATHEISM AND THEISM. 

cesses are as opposite in their nature and results 
as possible. The one is annihilation, the other 
is perpetual existence in good. I have not put 
any bounds to time, and have not said that the 
work of subjection goes on and on after the 
bounds of time are passed. The Scriptures 
speak of ages of ages in connection with re- 
demption. God is never in a hurry. He will 
take time enough for the accomplishment of 
his purposes, so that none shall fail. • 

The price of redemption is immense, and the 
guilt of scorning and rejecting it is heinous, 
and deserving of severe punishment ; but it is 
held by the advocates of eternal torment that 
at any time during this life that sin will be for- 
given to the penitent, and that some who have 
committed it shall be raised to the highest 
honors and greatest blessedness of the special 
salvation, without any stain on the escutcheon 
of his government ; and surely it will not dero- 
gate from his wisdom or his justice to subdue 
and reconcile all others to himself as subjects 
of his government in the world to come. 

III. LETTER TO MRS. M. M. R. 

I suppose that by being " restored and received 
into the favor of God, and the consequences of 
their rejection of Christ remitted," you mean 
what is taught by Restorationists of the Uni- 



EXPLANA TIONS. 205 

versalist school ; viz., that the wicked after a 
period of punishment will be made like the 
saints and share their glorious condition ; an 
error which I do not teach. All that is meant 
by being subdued and reconciled to God in 
the passage to which you refer is, that they 
will be made subjects of Christ's kingdom, 
compelled to acknowledge his Lordship and 
obey his laws, until at last they will obey 
willingly, or be reconciled to that condition 
of subjection in which they will continue for- 
ever. For Christ must reign till he hath put 
all enemies under his feet. David, speaking 
prophetically for Christ, says, "As soon as 
they hear of me, they shall obey me : the 
strangers shall submit themselves unto me." 
Ps. xviii 44, which has reference to the hea- 
then who have not heard of him in this life. 
And all things shall be put under his feet, 
though now we see it not ; yet we see Jesus 
exalted and crowned in anticipation of it. Heb. 
ii. 9-1 1. For God hath highly exalted him, 
and given him a name which is above every 
name : that at the name of Jesus every knee 
should bow, of those in heaven, and those in 
earth, and those under the earth. And that 
every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ 
is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Phil, 
ii. 9-1 1. Hence, when he shall come again, 



206 A THEISM AND THEISM. 

according to Ps. lxxii. 8, 1 I, " He shall have do- 
minion from sea to sea and from the rivers unto 
the ends of the earth. Yea, all kings shall fall 
down before him : all nations shall serve him." 
And from Dan. vii. 22, 27, we learn that when 
he comes, his saints made like him and one 
with him, shall be brought near before him, and 
with him take and possess the kingdom, and 
all nations shall serve and obey them ; which 
not only predicts the exaltation and glory of 
the saints, but also the subjection and resti- 
tution of the nations under their government. 
In 1 Col. i. 20, the phrase " having made peace 
by the blood of his cross," relates to the re- 
demption and manifestation of his saints as the 
first measure of the Divine economy in making 
peace on earth ; for which the earnest expecta- 
tion of the creature (man) waits ; and the rec- 
onciliation of all things unto himself, whether 
those in earth or those in heaven, relates to the 
subsequent deliverance of the creature (man) 
from the bondage of corruption into the lib- 
erty of the glory of the sons of God. Rom. 
viii. 19-21. It is the same as the gathering 
together of all things which are in heaven 
and which are on earth under one head or 
government in Christ, which will be consum- 
mated in the dispensation of the fulness of 
times, Eph. i. 9, 10, when he shall rule in the 



EXPLANATIONS. 207 

midst of his enemies, and his people shall be 
willing in the day of his power. Ps. ex. 2, 3. 

I would not have one of these precious testi- 
monies blotted from the Word of God because 
they are misunderstood and perverted by Uni- 
versalists to teach error. I am not afraid of 
truth, and however much these passages may 
seem to countenance the error of Universalism 
in the minds of those who know not what it 
is, I think there are no more efficient weapons 
wherewith to combat that error. Universalism 
teaches that there will be but one condition for 
all the human family, and that the wicked will 
be as the righteous. This is erroneous and 
mischievous, and the Scriptures referred to 
completely refute it. But the theory of the 
future, which teaches that there are two vast 
receptacles for the human family, one a heaven 
of endless purity and joy, for the saints, with 
naught to do but praise God, the other and 
larger a hell of endless sin and misery, for all 
the rest of mankind, with naught to do but 
blaspheme God, is equally contrary to the 
Scriptures, and derogatory to the character of 
God. 

iv. — letter to rev. r. c. m. 

If by reconciliation you mean being of the 
Holy Spirit regenerated with the word of truth 



208 ATHEISM AND THEISM. 

through faith in Jesus Christ, and that only, 
then I fully agree with you that the gospel does 
not teach that all intelligent beings belonging to 
this earth shall be so reconciled to God. But 
that is not the only application of the term. In 
Col. i. 12-20, Paul speaks of " the Father 
making us (believers) meet to be partakers of 
the inheritance of the saints in light; who hath 
delivered us from the power of darkness, and 
hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear 
Son, in whom we have redemption through his 
blood, even the forgiveness of sins," which cer- 
tainly is what you understand by reconciliation ; 
and being thus reconciled to God, we are made 
one with Christ, " who is the image of the in- 
visible God, the first-born of every creature; 
for by him were all things created. And he is 
the head of the body, the Church," and in this 
relation " is the beginning, the first-born from the 
dead, that in all things he might have the pre- 
eminence : for it pleased the Father that in him 
should all fulness dwell,"— the Church being 
" his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in 
all." Eph. i. 23. " And (so) having made peace 
through the blood of his cross," having re- 
deemed the Church and glorified it together 
with himself, — " by him to reconcile all things 
unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be 
things on earth or things in heaven," that is, 



EXP LA NA TIONS. 2O9 

whether human or angelic. Now, the recon- 
ciling all things is not the reconciling of the 
Church, for the Church is an election out of the 
things on earth, that is, the human, and does 
not embrace any of the things in heaven, that is, 
angelic. The terms, therefore, specify human 
and angelic beings who shall be reconciled to 
God after the Church has been redeemed and 
glorified with Christ. 

I have read the commentary of Dr. Charles 
Hodge on Rom. v. without being convinced of 
the correctness of his interpretation. On the 
contrary, it appears overstrained and illogical ; 
for, failing to distinguish betw r een the imputa- 
tion to all men of the obedience of Christ as 
the second Adam, and the imputation, to every 
one that believeth, of faith in Christ for right- 
eousness, he labors by inference to impose on 
the language of Paul a meaning it will not bear, 
and thus confound the representative relation 
and work of Christ with his priestly relation 
and work. By the former, Christ, as the sec- 
ond Adam, sustains the same federal relation to 
the human race in the covenant of works that 
the first Adam did, and acted in that relation 
for the race as fully as Adam did; so that, as 
Adam's disobedience, by imputation, made all 
sinners, even so the obedience of Christ, by 
imputation, made all righteous; and as by the 

o 18 



2 I O A THEISM A ND THEISM. 

offence of Adam condemnation came upon all 
men unto death, so by the righteousness of 
Christ justification came on all men unto life. 
Or as Paul states the case in I Cor. xv. 21, 22, 
" For since by man came death, by man came 
also the resurrection of the dead ; for as in Adam 
all die, even so in Christ shall all be made 
alive." The first step in redemption was the 
recovery of all mankind from the penalty of 
Adam's sin; for without a second Adam, whose 
obedience should insure their redemption from 
that penalty, the whole race in Adam would 
have been blotted out of existence, and any 
further step in redemption would have been im- 
possible. But Christ took this first step and 
secured a restoration of life to all mankind. 
But for this Adam's life would not have been 
prolonged, and his unborn posterity had per- 
ished in his loins ; but for this there would not 
be a resurrection of the body hereafter. But 
this having been absolutely and unconditionally 
secured by the obedience of Christ, the second 
step became practicable; even the redemption 
out of mankind by his sacrificial death of a 
peculiar people, as his bride to heir with him 
the dominion of the earth, which had been 
promised to but forfeited by the first Adam and 
his bride. For this he voluntarily gave himself 
a sin-offering on the cross and rose again. And 



EXPLANA TIONS. 2 1 1 

whosoever believeth on him is justified from all 
his personal sins, even as Abraham believed 
God and it was imputed to him for righteous- 
ness. Now it was not written for his sake alone 
that it was imputed to him; but for us also, to 
whom it shall be imputed if we believe on him 
that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, 
who was delivered for our offences and was 
raised again for our justification. 

The second step has been in process of ac- 
complishment from the fall of Adam until now, 
and will be consummated at the close of this 
age, when the number of the elect will be made 
up and Christ shall come again in power and 
great glory, raise and change and glorify all 
believers, and make them kings and priests unto 
God in his everlasting kingdom. And when 
this second step shall have been consummated 
there will be an end of all the special means by 
which it is being effected. The gospel of our 
salvation shall no more be preached, and there 
shall be no more saved according to the gospel. 
The door of justification by faith will be closed, 
and no more will by faith wash their robes and 
make them white in the blood of the Lamb. 
The first resurrection will be past, and no more 
shall be raised immortal and incorruptible. It 
is in view of the decisions of that day that the 
declaration in Rev. xxii. 1 1 is made, as is evi- 



212 ATHEISM AND THEISM. 

dent by the connection, and the meaning is that 
whosoever is unjust and filthy during this life 
and so dies, will be unjust and filthy then, and 
whosoever is righteous and holy and so dies, 
shall be holy and righteous then. And that 
each shall be dealt with accordingly, the former 
denied a part in the first resurrection and con- 
sequent glory, and the latter being made a par- 
taker thereof. The word " still" does not mean 
forever, but " at that time" when the character 
formed in this probationary life will be the 
ground of the decisions then made. 

The third step in redemption is the restitu- 
tion of all things which God hath spoken by 
the mouth of all his holy prophets since the 
world began, the time of which shall commence 
at the second coming of Christ, and shall con- 
tinue until " in the dispensation of the fulness 
of times all things shall be gathered together 
under one head in Christ, both which are in 
heaven and which are in earth, even in him. ,, 
The restitution of all things includes the prom- 
ised restoration of all the dispersed of Israel 
from all lands where they are scattered to the 
land promised to Abraham and to his seed for 
an everlasting inheritance. This will be com- 
pletely effected during the Millennium, when 
God will make a new covenant with them, 
and they shall become his obedient and faith- 



EX PLANA TIONS. 2 1 3 

ful people. Ezek. xxxvi. 24, 38. It includes 
also the resurrection of the dead of Israel and 
their being placed in the same land, Ezek. 
xxxvii. 1-14, which must of necessity be ef- 
fected after the Millennium ; for when the saints 
are raised, before the Millennium, it is said that 
the rest of the dead lived not again until the 
thousand years were finished. And this resti- 
tution is said emphatically to include " the whole 
house of Israel." Again, it includes other na- 
tions who for their sins have been taken away 
as the Lord saw good, even Sodom and her 
daughters, the cities of the plain, who are set 
forth for an example, suffering the vengeance 
of eternal fire, — a fire by which they were de- 
stroyed from the earth, and the effects of which 
continue through the course of time down to 
the restoration of the whole house of Israel. 
Ezek. xvi. 48-63. As Sodom and her daughters 
were wholly destroyed so that they had no de- 
scendants, the restitution spoken of must be 
from the dead. And to this Jesus referred when 
he said it shall be more tolerable for Sodom and 
Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for Ca- 
pernaum, and for Tyre and Sidon than Chorazin. 
And if those cities which are set forth as ex- 
amples of punishment suffering the vengeance 
of eternal fire, shall, under the dominion of 
Christ and his saints, return to their former 



214 ATHEISM AND THEISM. 

estate, all others of whom they are examples 
shall return to their former estate. And so be- 
cause of the obedience of the second Adam all 
shall be raised from the dead and restored to 
that condition of life forfeited to them by the 
disobedience of the first Adam. Then shall be 
fulfilled Hos. xiii. 14, for when all shall be raised 
from the dead there shall be no more death and 
hell. Those raised from the dead must live 
again on the earth and be punished on the earth, 
Prov. xi. 31, under the government of the saints, 
who will execute vengeance upon the heathen 
and punishment upon the people, etc., Ps. cxlix. 
5-9, by which they will be recompensed for 
their sins and subdued to Christ. 

John iii. 36 does not teach the dogma of end- 
less torment. It might just as well be quoted 
to prove the dogma of annihilation ; but it is 
only by a misapplication of terms that it is 
made to favor either. Everlasting life indicates 
that condition of life which all the saints shall 
attain in the first resurrection ; see John vi. 39, 
40, 54. No unbeliever shall attain that life ; 
but when the saints shall be raised immortal 
and incorruptible, the wrath of God, the death- 
penalty, shall abide on him: as it is written, 
;< The man that wandereth out of the way of un- 
derstanding shall remain in the congregation of 
the dead." Prov. xxi. 16. But he shall not 



EXPLANATIONS. 215 

always remain there ; the death-penalty shall 
not abide on him alway. The first resurrection 
is not the only resurrection. Everlasting life or 
immortality is not the only condition of life, for 
in the times of restitution of all things the 
wicked shall be raised from the dead in natural 
bodies, and again live on the earth under the 
government of Christ and his saints. 

Mark xvi. 16 is by the best critics admitted 
to be an interpolation, but it does not teach 
eternal torment. It merely declares that the 
believer shall be saved, obtain eternal life in the 
first resurrection, and that the unbeliever shall 
be condemned and excluded therefrom. 

The gospel Paul preached is indeed the true 
gospel, and is found in his epistles. He preached 
that God is the Saviour of all men, specially of 
them that believe, I Tim. iv. 10 ; and Gal. i. 8 
says, If any man preach any other gospel, let 
him be accursed, cut off, not eternally tormented. 
You say, " The Lord will reign over the right- 
eous in his heavenly kingdom." If by the 
righteous you mean, as I suppose, the saints, 
then you have made a great mistake. He does 
not in that kingdom reign over the saints, but 
the saints reign with him. Again, you say he 
will reign over the wicked in Perdition. Where 
is Perdition? The Scriptures do not mention 
any such place. Has the Lord two kingdoms ? 



2l6 ATHEISM AND THEISM. 

One for the righteous and one for the wicked ? 
And shall the saints reign with him in Perdi- 
tion? And what sort of government is it where 
the governed do not obey the governor, but 
scorn his authority, blaspheme his name, and 
disobey his laws ? Alas ! my dear brother, do 
you not see that while you are very zealous for 
God, you are both taking from and adding to 
his word, for your theory denies the reign of 
the saints and adds a perdition identical with 
the infernal regions of the Greek mythology, 
only you make the Lord king instead of Pluto ? 
The Scriptures reveal only one kingdom and 
that on earth, in which the saints as kings and 
priests shall reign with Christ, and all people, 
nations, and languages shall obey him. In the 
consummation of mediation he will have no 
disobedient subjects. 

V. THE USE OF THE TERM EVERLASTING (atwvtoq) 

IN DETERMINING THE DURATION OF PUNISH- 
MENT. 

Question.— -Is it the same term which means 
"the ages" that is used in reference to the hap- 
piness of those who have believed on Christ in 
this world, and lived to serve him, as that used 
for the time of the punishment of the wicked 
and unbelievers? I know our promise of eter- 
nal life is the " Because I live ye shall live also," 



EXPLANATIONS. 2\J 

but would not a difficulty be suggested if the 
same term were employed in denoting the time 
of blessedness and of punishment ? 

E. L. L. 

Answer. — The Greek adjective auovioq is de- 
rived from the noun atcw, which primarily means 
an age, and hence signifies the duration of an 
age, whether that age be long, short, or endless. 
Consequently it may be translated everlasting in 
all its applications, meaning akvays being, that 
is, existing during the age. Both the noun and 
adjective answer to the Hebrew ^IW, olam, which 
signifies " hidden, obscure," and hence hidden 
time, of which the beginning or end is uncer- 
tain, and is applied to times definite and indefi- 
nite, past and future, the beginning and end of 
which must be determined from the nature of 
the subject; as in Deut. xv. 17, "He shall be 
thy servant forever," means to the end of the 
Jubilee, when he went out free by a universal 
proclamation of liberty; I Sam. xxvii. 12, " He 
shall be my servant forever," means as long as 
he lives ; I Sam. ii. 30, " I said indeed that thy 
house, and the house of thy father, should walk 
before me forever," means during that dispen- 
sation or age; Eccl. i. 4, " But the earth abideth 
forever," means perpetually, being put in oppo- 
sition to the generations of mankind which pass 
k 19 



2 1 8 A THEISM AND THEISM. 

away successively. When applied to God, as 
in Gen. xxi. 33, it means without beginning or 
end, — eternal. 

The plural of «^v is rendered " ages" in Eph. 
ii. 7 and Col. i. 26; and the singular, rendered 
world in Matt. xii. 32, xiii. 22, 39, 40, 49, xxiv. 
3, xxviii. 20, etc., means an age, and has refer- 
ence to the Jewish age, the Christian age, or the 
Millennium, the age to come, all of which have 
an end. And atwvwq y everlasting, in reference to 
either of them, would signify its duration, and 
nothing more. 

In Heb. v. 6, Paul quotes from Ps. ex. 4, ■' Thou 
art a priest forever (eis rov cua>va y for an age) after 
the order of Melchizedek," whose priesthood 
continued during its entire age; that is, he had 
no predecessor or successor in his priesthood. 
Hence it was a proper type of the priesthood 
of Christ, in which he is the only priest, be- 
cause he continueth ever, that is, from the be- 
ginning to the end. It was not so with the 
Aaronic priesthood, which is called everlasting, 
Ex. xl. 15, that is, enduring for the whole Jew- 
ish age ; because it provided for a succession 
of persons in the priesthood, after the law of 
a carnal commandment; so that neither Aaron 
nor any of his sons was a priest forever, not 
being permitted to continue by reason of death. 
Hence they were called u men that die" (Heb. 



EXP LAN A 7 IONS. 2 1 9 

vii. 8), in contradistinction from Melchizedek, 
u of whom it was witnessed that he liveth," and 
" men which have infirmity" or disease (Heb. 
vii. 28), in contradistinction from " the Son who 
is consecrated for evermore," stq tw aiajva. y for an 
age, — an age including the times of redemption 
for the elect Church before Christ's second 
coming, and the times of the restitution of all 
things after his second coming, — an age of 
which he is the alpha and omega, the begin- 
ning and the end, the first and the last. 

With these preliminary remarks on the Scrip- 
tural use of the term everlasting (atu>vtoq) y we pro- 
ceed to the question which we presume has ref- 
erence specially to Matt. xxv. 46, " these shall 
go away into everlasting punishment, and the 
righteous into life eternal," a passage generally 
relied on to prove the eternal misery of the 
wicked by contrast with the eternal happiness 
of the righteous, and is the only place where 
the Greek word cuajvioq is used to signify the 
duration of both. And the supposed difficulty 
is that, if the word does not mean unending 
duration as qualifying the punishment of the 
wicked, neither does it in qualifying the life 
of the righteous, and that this would imply a 
termination of the life and happiness of the 
righteous. The point is well taken, for the 
word has the same meaning in both cases. 



220 ATHEISM AND THEISM. 

The difficulty is in the misapplication of the 
judgment itself. It has been usually treated 
and explained as a general judgment of all 
mankind divided into two classes, — saints and 
sinners, — the first embracing all the elect 
Church of God from the fall of man to the 
end of the world, the second embracing all 
the rest of mankind for the same period ; 
and that this judgment is the final winding- 
up of all earthly affairs at the end of time, 
by which the wicked will be consigned to a 
hell of interminable torment, and the righteous 
awarded a heaven of interminable happiness. 
And that the earth will then be burnt up, con- 
sumed, and be no more. But this is altogether 
a mistaken exegesis, as will appear from an ex- 
amination of the passage. 

I. This judgment will take place at the sec- 
ond coming of Christ, and at the second stage 
of it, his glorious epiphany, attended by all his 
angels and by his saints, Matt. xxv. 31, " When 
the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all 
the holy angels with him, then shall he sit on 
the throne of his glory." And Zech. xiv. 5, 
" And the Lord my God shall come, and all 
the saints with thee ;" and Col. iii. 4, " When 
Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall 
ye also appear with him in glory." 

For all the saints having been caught up to 



EXPL ANA TIONS. 2 2 I 

meet him in the air before his appearing, shall 
thenceforth be ever with him, and shall appear 
with him in glory. It will be premillennial. He 
then shall take the throne of his Father David, 
and restore the Kingdom of Israel. " Then 
shall he sit on the throne of his glory," and 
the saints will be kings and priests with him, 
and are said to sit with him in his throne. 

2. This judgment is not a general judgment 
of all mankind, but only of the nations then 
living on the earth. Not a word is said about 
the resurrection of the dead at this judgment, 
for the saints will have been raised before it 
takes place, and the rest of the dead will not 
be raised until after the Millennium. These 
nations will have passed through the dispensa- 
tion of his coming, — a period of at least forty 
years, during which Christ and his saints will 
be in the air unseen by the world, — and which 
will have special relation to the restoration of 
Israel, as appears from Micah vii. 15: "Ac- 
cording to the days of thy coming out of the 
land of Egypt will I show him marvellous 
things." The special favor of God to the Jews 
will be as apparent as it then was, except the 
visible glory of the Sheckinah in the pillar of 
cloud and in the tabernacle of witness, and 
will arouse the envy and hostility of the Gen- 
tile nations, especially those called Christian, 

19* 



222 ATHEISM AND THEISM. 

who will hold as tenaciously to their corrupted 
Christianity as the Jews did to their traditions 
in the end of their age. But there will be a 
ministry and a gospel for that age, represented 
in Rev. xiv. 6, 7, by an angel flying in the midst 
of heaven, etc. : for this vision intervenes between 
the gathering of " the first fruits unto God and 
the Lamb" and the fall of Babylon the great, 
the mother of harlots, and belongs to this pe- 
riod or age. It is called the everlasting (atowtoq) 
gospel, that is, the gospel of that age. And its 
substance will be, " Fear God and give glory to 
him; for the hour of his judgment is come: 
and worship him that made heaven, and earth, 
and the sea, and the fountains of waters." A 
very different gospel from the present, and re- 
quiring a different course of behavior ; for it 
requires of the nations an acknowledgment 
of Israel's supremacy at that period, and to 
render them such assistance as they may need. 
And they will at last be judged for their con- 
duct towards the Jews at the end of that age. 
But the enmity of those nations to the Jews 
will culminate in being gathered against Jeru- 
salem to battle. And then shall the Lord go 
forth against those nations in judgment. 

Now, in the judgment, Matt. xxv. 31-46, we 
find there are mentioned three classes of per- 
sons, though only two of them are judged, — 



EX PL A NA TIONS. 223 

those represented by the sheep, and called 
righteous, because of having done good to 
another class called Christ's brethren, and 
those represented by the goats, and called 
the cursed, because of their having done no 
good, but only evil to the class called Christ's 
brethren. The brethren of Christ are evi- 
dently a third class, distinct from the other 
two. And the brethren are not the saints, 
to whom, being with Christ in the air dur- 
ing that period, no such good deeds could 
be shown ; but they are the Jews, who are 
Christ's brethren according to the flesh, as 
the seed of Abraham, and who, during that 
period, will be helped in their restoration by 
some of the nations and hindered by others. 

3. The sentence pronounced by Christ upon 
the righteous ones indicates that they shall in- 
herit the kingdom as its subjects, and so enter 
into everlasting life; that is, the life of that 
Millennial age, during which they will be pre- 
served from sickness and death, though in the 
natural body. 

And the sentence pronounced upon the others 
indicates that they will be punished during that 
period with indignation and wrath, tribulation 
and anguish, which is the punishment symbol- 
ized by the lake of fire and brimstone prepared 
for the devil and his angels. 



224 ATHEISM AND THEISM. 

The powers or rulers symbolized by the beast 
and the false prophet are doubtless the same 
that are here called the goats, and they are said 
to be cast alive into that fire, Rev. xix. 20 ; and 
so the goats are not said to be cut off, but to go 
away into everlasting fire prepared for the devil 
and his angels, verse 41, because they were the 
first to sin ; but those designated goats, and 
symbolized by the beast and false prophet, are 
subjected to that punishment at the beginning 
of the Millennium, the devil and his angels not 
till after it terminates. 

What changes will be made in the condition 
of these classes after the Millennium is not in- 
timated ; but the righteous, doubtless, will con- 
tinue obedient to Christ and his saints, and at- 
tain to such honorable rank in the kingdom as 
may be eligible to its obedient subjects : while 
the others, though always held in a condition 
of forced subjection, will submit themselves to 
the government of Christ and his saints, and 
be delivered from all torment and pain ; but 
not from the shame and dishonor involved in 
their everlasting loss incurred by their disobedi- 
ence. 

The termination of the Millennium, to which 
period the word everlasting has reference in 
qualifying the foregoing reward and punish- 
ment, does not end the reward of the one class 



EXPLANA TIONS. 22 5 

nor the punishment of the other ; nor does it 
follow that no change can take place in the con- 
dition of either party without a corresponding 
change in the condition of the other, or that 
no change can take place in the condition of 
both. God does not bind his administration to 
perpetuate evil by words of equivocal import. 
Hence no difficulty such as that apprehended 
in the question can arise from the use of the 
word acwvios in these connections. 

VI. — TIMES OF RESTITUTION OF ALL THINGS. 

Question. — If it is proper, and not asking too 
much, will you please give your exposition of 
'Acts iii. 20, 21 ? M. R. S. 

Answer. — These verses are so intimately con- 
nected with the 19th verse, that we cannot un- 
derstand the subject in its completeness without 
considering them in their connection. 

" Repent ye, therefore, and be converted, that 
your sins may be blotted out, when (or, that so) 
the times of refreshing shall come from the 
presence of the Lord ; and he shall send Jesus 
Christ, who before was preached unto you : 
whom the heaven must receive until the times 
of restitution of all things, which God hath 
spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets 
P 



225 ATHEISM AND THEISM. 

since the world began (in former ages)." This 
exhortation, addressed to the Jews, was evi- 
dently intended to meet an objection which 
would naturally arise in their minds to the 
acknowledgment of Jesus as their Messiah ; 
for they expected that at his coming the right- 
eous dead would be raised, the kingdom of 
God set up, the nation of Israel exalted over 
all people, and the world governed in right- 
eousness and preserved in peace, and that the 
Messiah would abide forever. These things 
were taught in their Scriptures, and promised 
to them in their national covenant, and were 
the objects of their hope. For the kingdom 
of God, embracing all that is included in "the 
times of refreshment" and " times of restitution 
of all things," was, on certain conditions, prom- 
ised to the national Israel by the covenant 
which God made with them at Sinai. Ex. xix. 
5, 6. But to admit that the crucified Jesus 
was really the .Messiah was, in their view, 
to admit that their hope was a delusion, and 
that there would be no such times of refresh- 
ing and of restitution. But Peter assured them 
that those times were yet future, and that 
Jesus being raised from the dead and glorified 
by his assumption into heaven, would come 
again and fulfil to them the glorious predic- 
tions contained in their Scriptures. The rejec- 



EXP L ANA TIONS. 2 27 

tion and crucifixion of Jesus abolished their 
national covenant, the promise of which had 
been forfeited by their continual transgressions 
of the law ; and yet they were still the children 
of the prophets and of the Abrahamic covenant, 
and to them first, God having raised up his Son 
Jesus, sent him to bless them in turning away 
every one of them from their iniquities, com- 
manding that the gospel should first be preached 
to them ; after which he ascended into heaven, 
and would there remain until the times of the 
restitution should begin. And the Jews who 
had, previous to the death of Christ, been 
bound by the law 7 , became dead to the law 
by the body of Christ, that they should be 
married to another, even to him who was raised 
fiom the dead, that they should bring forth 
fruit unto God. If, then, they had believed 
the gospel and obeyed it, they would have 
been married to the risen spiritual Christ in 
the Abrahamic covenant, and the times of re- 
freshing would have come from the presence 
of the Lord, and Jesus would have returned 
and restored the kingdom unto Israel. And 
this is what Peter said would be the result of 
their repenting and turning to God. But they 
repented not, and so their sins in denying the 
Holy One and desiring a murderer to be granted 
unto them and killing the Prince of Life, were 



228 ATHEISM AND THEISM. 

not blotted out, the times of refreshment did not 
come, Jesus was not sent the second time, and 
the times of restitution of all things did not 
begin. 

The Israelites under the Sinaitic covenant 
were the natural branches of the Abrahamic 
covenant or good olive-tree; but the children 
of the flesh are not the children of God ; for 
they could not by the law covenant attain to 
that relation ; only the children of promise are 
counted for the seed in the Abrahamic cove- 
nant. It required faith in the promise to make 
the natural branches spiritual branches, and 
none but the believing natural branches, being 
a very small remnant, were retained ; the unbe- 
lieving were broken off, yet the whole number 
must be made complete from among all other 
peoples, including believers of previous dispen- 
sations, and those whom God has since, and is 
now, by the gospel, taking out of all nations. 
And the times of refreshing are postponed 
until the fulness or complement of the Gen- 
tiles shall be brought in, and then Jesus will 
return and will rebuild the tabernacle of David 
which is fallen down, and build again the ruins 
thereof, and set it up. 

Jesus, at his first advent in the flesh, as the 
seed of David, was ready to fulfil the terms of 
the Sinaitic covenant with the Jewish nation if 



EXPLANA TIONS. 229 

they had been worthy. Hence the proclama- 
tion, " Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is 
at hand," or, as in the parable, " My oxen and 
fatlings are killed, and all things are ready; 
come to the marriage." But when they made 
light of it, and despised and rejected him, he 
said, " The kingdom of heaven shall be taken 
from you, and given to a nation bringing forth 
the fruits thereof," which nation will consist of 
the saints whom Peter calls " a chosen genera- 
tion, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a pecu- 
liar people." And so when he comes the sec- 
ond time he will raise, change, and glorify all 
his saints, and make them kings and priests in 
his kingdom. 

The word rendered " blotted out" means to 
wipe off ointment. It occurs five times in the 
New Testament. Three times it is rendered 
" blotting out," and thrice " wiping away," and 
always in the sense of a perfect action ; as in 
Col. ii. 14, it expresses the abolishing of the 
Israelitish national covenant by the death of 
Christ ; " blotting out the handwriting of or- 
dinances that was against us," etc. In Acts Hi. 
19, it has this perfected sense, and relates to the 
final act of redemption by which all evidence of 
sin is forever obliterated in the state of the raised 
and glorified saints. 

The word rendered refreshing signifies a re- 



23O ATHEISM AND THEISM. 

frigeration, a cooling after having been heated. 
It is a compound of ava and 4>o%(d. From the 
latter comes <l } uyj), breath, life, soul, and gives 
the additional meanings to breathe again, to 
Hve again, to be a soul again. The word is 
peculiarly adapted to denote the resurrection in 
which we shall breathe again, live again, and 
find again the soul which was lost in death. A 
refreshing from the presence of the Lord pre- 
supposes his presence as the source or cause of 
the refreshings for the word izpoauyizoo is used to 
denote the personal presence of whoever is 
spoken of, and the refreshing or finding the soul 
again is associated with the coming of Christ. 
Matt. xvi. 24-27. Spiritual refreshing, in the 
regeneration and sanctification of believers in 
this life, is not from the presence of the Lord, 
but in the absence of the Lord, for Jesus said, 
u It is expedient for you that I go away ; for 
if I go not away, the Comforter will not come 
unto you : but if I depart I will send him unto 
you." The times of spiritual refreshing had 
already come when Peter made his address. 
Acts ii. 37-42. He therefore spake not of them, 
but of times to come. Doddridge says, " Di- 
vine refreshment would no doubt immediately 
mingle itself with a sense of pardon, and exter- 
nal happiness would certainly at length succeed, 
but the following clause seems to intimate that 



EXP LAN A T10NS. 2 3 I 

Peter apprehended that the conversion of the 
Jews as a people would be attended with some 
extraordinary sense of prosperity and joy, and 
open a speedy way for Christ's descent from 
heaven in order to the restitution of all things. " 
But what was then to the Jews a contingent 
event is to all believers in Christ a certainty as 
soon as the complement of the Gentiles shall 
be brought in. 

The times of refreshing will begin with the 
complete redemption and glorification of the 
saints at the coming of Christ. But that, as 
the first grand measure or purpose of the divine 
economy necessary to the further manifestation 
of his mercy to mankind, being accomplished, 
the times of refreshing will continue to progress 
through succeeding ages until there shall be 
effected the restitution of all things which God 
hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy proph- 
ets in former ages. 

These "all things" include first the restitution 
of the whole house of Israel, according to the 
new covenant which God will make with them 
in those days, Jer. xxxi. 31-34, which includes 
their forgiveness and pre-eminence among the 
nations who will be subdued to the government 
of Christ and his saints, and live in peace and 
prosperity during the Millennium. Ezek. xxxvi. 
25-32; Isa. lx., etc. And after the little season 



232 ATHEISM AND THEISM. 

of Satanic delusion for the trial of the nations, 
Rev. xx. 7-10, includes the resurrection of all 
the dead not previously raised, verses 5, 11-13, 
embracing the dead of Israel, — the whole of 
them. Ezek. xxxvii. n-14. And Sodom and 
her daughters, and Samaria and her daughters, 
Ezek. xvi. 53-63, and their restoration to their 
former state as subjects of the kingdom, as well 
as all mankind, as promised by virtue of Christ's 
obedience as the second Adam, Rom. v. 18, 19; 
1 Cor. xv. 21, 22; their subjection, Phil. iii. 21 ; 
Heb. ii. 8 ; 1 Cor. xv. 28 ; and reconciliation in 
subjection, Ps. Ixvi. 3, 4; Col. i. 20; Phil. ii. 
9-1 1, with the fallen angels " who are reserved 
in everlasting chains, under darkness, unto the 
judgment of the great day." Jude 6. When 
they shall be judged, that is, governed, by the 
saints, 1 Cor. vi. 1-3, and consequently subdued 
and reconciled, as is evident from Rev. v. 13. 

The restitution of all things involves also the 
renovation of the heavens and the earth. The 
first heaven and earth or condition of the earth 
and its atmosphere, with its political, social, and 
moral institutions, passed away with the deluge, 
and the second heaven and earth which now are 
shall pass away at the coming of the Lord, to 
be succeeded by the third heaven and earth or 
new state of the earth and its atmosphere, with 
its political, social, and moral institutions, as 



EXP LAN A TIONS. 233 

taught, Heb. i. 12 ; 2 Pet. iii. 3-13 ; Isa. lxv. 17- 
25; and Rev. xxi. 1-5, and many other pas- 
sages. 

We hope the Scriptures referred to will be 
carefully read in the connection in which they 
stand, and we think they cannot fail to convince 
any one of unprejudiced mind of the fact that 
while the saints of God shall be glorified rulers 
of the world without end, all the rest of man- 
kind shall be subjects of their government and 
eventually reconciled to God in that state of 
subjection. And is it not probable that this 
Scriptural view of the restitution of all things 
would have dissipated the difficulties which Dr. 
Barnes confesses in the following language, 
could he have abandoned scholastic theology 
and received the Word in all the simplicity of a 
little child? He said : " These and a hundred 
difficulties meet the mind when we think on 
this subject, and they meet us when we endeavor 
to urge our fellow-sinners to be reconciled to 
God and to put confidence in him. I confess for 
one that I feel these, and feel them more sensi- 
bly and powerfully the more I look at them, and 
the longer I live. I do not know that I have a 
ray of light on this subject which I had not 
when the subject first flashed across my soul. 
I have read to some extent what wise and good 
men have written. I have looked at their theo- 

20* 



234 ATHEISM AND THEISM. 

ries and explanations. I have endeavored to 
weigh their arguments, for my whole soul pants 
for light and relief on these questions. But I 
get neither, and in the distress and anguish of 
my own spirit I confess that I see no light what- 
ever. I see not one ray to disclose to me the 
reason why sin came into the world, why the 
earth is strewed with the dying and the dead, 
and why man must suffer to all eternity." — Al- 
bert Barnes's Practical Sermons, p. 123. A sim- 
ilar wail comes from many an anguished spirit 
which ought to be hushed by the words of the 
all-loving Father. 

CONCERNING HELL. 

Three different Greek words are rendered 
hell in the authorized version of the New Tes- 
tament. The first, " afys, from a pr. and Idelv, to 
see" means unseen, invisible. It occurs eleven 
times. Twice, Matt. xi. 23, and Luke x. 15, it 
refers to the predicted condition of Capernaum, 
which from being exalted to heaven as the 
chosen abode of Christ while on earth, has been, 
on account of its wickedness, so completely de- 
stroyed that it is no more seen and its very 
location is not certainly known. And all its 
inhabitants have passed into the invisible state. 
There is nothing remaining to represent its ex- 
istence on earth. 



EXPLANATIONS. 235 

Once, I Cor. xv. 55, it is improperly rendered 
grave, for it has the same reference there as in 
Matt. xvi. 18; Luke xvi. 23; Acts ii. 27, 31; 
Rev. i. 18; xx. 13, 14, where it refers to the 
unseen state or place of the dead ; that is, of their 
spirits, and not of their bodies, for the place of 
their bodies is not unseen. The English word 
hell, from the Saxon hillan or helan, to hide, 
to cover, to conceal, would be a very suitable one 
to express the same idea but for the use that 
has been made of it to indicate a place of tor- 
ment; although Acts ii. 27, 31 (and also Gen. 
xxxvii. 35; Job xiv. 13; xvii. 13; Ps. xvi. 10, 
where its equivalent, 'W, sheol, is employed) 
it cannot have such a meaning. And in no other 
place is such a meaning necessary. Neverthe- 
less it has generally obtained and is so defined 
by the lexicons. Hence it has been discarded 
by the recent revisers and the Greek word an- 
glicized substituted in its place, which is as 
much as to say that the Greek word does not 
signify hell as a place of torment. This is so 
much gained in the right direction; but it does 
not go far enough. It conveys no meaning. 
Hades is not a translation of adyq into any in- 
telligent English word. It is thus left to the 
readers of the revision to give it a meaning, 
each for himself. In thus acquiring a meaning 
it is as liable to be perverted from its meaning 



236 ATHEISM AND THEISM. 

in the Greek New Testament as was the English 
word hell, and may come in general to signify a 
place of torment, as most persons will regard it 
as only another name for the same thing. 

It is used to denote the unseen world where 
the spirits of the dead remain until they shall be 
raised to live on earth again. For until Christ 
shall come the second time to take the domin- 
ion of the earth and subdue all things to him- 
self he has passed a modified death-sentence on 
man, which affects the body so that it returns to 
the earth as it was, but conserves the spirit so 
that it returns to God who gave it and is kept 
in secret, in hades or hell, until the time shall 
come for the redemption of the body. 

The happiness of the righteous, whether in 
this life or in hades or hell, is not the reward of 
their faith and obedience, though a consequence 
thereof; but they will be rewarded at the com- 
ing of Christ with eternal life and glory. And 
the unhappiness of the wicked, whether in this 
life or in hades or hell, is not the punishment of 
their sins, though a consequence thereof; but 
they will be punished with indignation and 
wrath, tribulation and anguish, after they shall 
be raised from the dead. Rom. ii. 6-10. Hades 
or hell is not a place fitted up with appliances 
to torture the spirits of the dead, and whatever 
torment the wicked may suffer there will be the 



EX PLANA TIONS. 



237 



result of a guilty conscience or apprehensions 
of future wrath. 

The second word, ysiwa 9 being a corruption 
of the Hebrew word D31V4, designated a place 
called the valley of Hinnom, to the south of 
Jerusalem, outside the walls. It was anciently 
•' most verdant and delightfully shaded with 
trees." The worship of Moloch was established 
there, and hence the Jews, after the captivity, 
regarded it with abhorrence, and defiled it by 
throwing into it all the filth of the city, car- 
cases of animals, and the dead bodies of male- 
factors who were denied burial. And constant 
fires were kept burning to consume these bodies, 
etc., from which it also received the name Ge- 
henna of fire. The English word hell is not a 
translation of it at all. It is a proper name of a 
place which, so far from being unseen or hidde7t y 
was seen and known to all the inhabitants of 
Jerusalem. It was a most execrable place, and 
used metaphorically to denote future punish- 
ment, not in the intermediate state, but after the 
resurrection. The word is found in Matt. v. 22, 
29, 30; x. 28; xviii. 9; xxiii. 15, 33; Mark ix. 
43, 45, 47; Luke xii. 5; James iii. 6. From 
Isaiah lxvi. 22-24 ft appears that Gehenna will 
be used during the Millennium as a place for 
consuming the carcases of those who will then 
be cut off for their disobedience. But that will 



238 ATHEISM AND THEISM. 

be before death and hell, hades, give up the dead 
that are in them, and the wicked are brought 
forth for punishment. 

The third word, raprap6aaq^ occurs but once, 
2 Pet. ii. 4, and designates the outcast condition 
of the angels who kept not their first estate, and 
are committed to chains of darkness, to be re- 
served unto judgment when the second Adam 
and his saints shall possess the kingdom. 

Great confusion has arisen from rendering 
these Greek and Hebrew words by the same 
English word hell ; for how is the English 
reader to know which word it represents and 
what is its real meaning ? It is matter of thank- 
fulness that the word of God was written in 
what may now be called stereotyped languages, 
whose words are no longer subject to the mu- 
tations of common use. So while the English 
word hell has come to signify a place of torment, 
the Greek and Hebrew words retain their sev- 
eral meanings ; so that by reference to them it 
is possible to ascertain the true sense. 

The Hebrew word Vik#, the Greek «<fys, 
and their equivalent English word hell, when 
used in reference to the dead, signify a hidden, 
unseen, or covered state, to which the spirits, 
whether of the righteous or of the wicked, go 
when they die. It is not a place of torment, 
for there Lazarus is comforted in Abraham's 



EXPLANATIONS, 239 

bosom, and Paul says, " To me to live is Christ 
and to die is gain." Hence we are assured of 
the happiness of all who die in the Lord, for 
they rest from their labors in a blissful sense of 
the Divine love and joyful anticipation of eter- 
nal life, as well as in the fellowship of all the 
good and true. It is not the place that makes 
them happy. Nor is it the place which makes 
the wicked miserable there. It is their conscious 
guilt and apprehension of coming wrath in the 
companionship of the wicked. 

It is not the final state of the righteous or of 
the wicked. The righteous shall come forth in 
the first resurrection, and with the changed liv- 
ing saints be caught up to meet the Lord in the 
air at his coming, and being glorified with him, 
shall reign with him in his everlasting kingdom. 
The wicked will not be raised until after a thou- 
sand years have expired, and it will be unto 
judgment. And they shall be punished for 
their sins and subdued to Christ, under whose 
righteous government they will at last be rec- 
onciled to God and become obedient and happy. 



THE END. 






I 



